Some talented management have been leaving Yahoo! this week. Yesterday it was learnt that Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of Yahoo’s Network division and leader of many of the company’s core products, is leaving the company. Yesterday also veteran developer Jeremy Zawodny, who helped spearhead important projects like the Yahoo Developer Network, announced on his blog that he would be leaving. Today according to the Washington Post, NYT Bits is reporting the departure of Usama Fayyad, chief data officer and EVP of research and strategic data solutions, which is expected to be officially announced later today.

The most intriguing news for those interested in speech technology was an announcement earlier in the week by Nuance Communications that two other ex-Yahoo’s were joining them. Gary Clayton joins Nuance from his role as vice president, Speech Strategy, at Yahoo! where he oversaw speech implementation for the Yahoo! platform and mobile products, including oneSearch with Voice. Prior to Yahoo!, he spent seven years at Tellme Networks, now part of Microsoft.

Victor Chen is also joining Nuance as senior director, Creative Strategy. Prior to joining Nuance, Mr. Chen served as the director of business management at Yahoo! where he was responsible for developing the company’s speech strategy and introducing oneSearch. Prior to Yahoo!, he was director of strategic initiatives with Tellme, guiding the strategy and design of mobile search applications. Mr. Chen will report to Gary Clayton.

Speech technology is playing an increasingly important role in the development of the mobile web and clearly Nuance is strengthening its position as one of the major players. Microsoft has also been acquiring talent to ensure its stake. Only Google has been somewhat quiet in recent months but by the end of 2008 that undoubtedly will change.

Other Related Posts

• June 5, 2008 -- Talk To Your Bank For Added Security
• May 15, 2008 -- Forget Typos, Watch Your Speakos
• April 2, 2008 -- Keep Your Snoopy Eyes On The Road Ahead

This blog is created by using the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software from Nuance. Just dictate away and typo-free text appears on the screen. It works very effectively and rarely makes a mistake. It really is very impressive. It is one of the reasons why I believe that speech technology is the killer app for the mobile web.

There are countless recent news items to support that belief. Perhaps one of the most dramatic is that banks in the UK will be using voice IDs. The main British banks plan to introduce voice recognition over the next year as a way of deterring card fraudsters, according to speech software specialist Nuance as reported in Personal Computer World.

Ian Turner, general manager for Nuance’s operations in northern Europe, said: “By the end of next year, about 20 million people in the UK will be registered with some kind of system.”

He said voice recognition can be 97 per cent accurate, but it is always used with some other form of identification, such as a password. He added that even good mimics cannot fool the system.

Nuance provides one of the major voice-biometric systems on the market. A recent survey commissioned by Nuance indicated that most people are in favour of multi-factor identification systems, including voice biometrics.

Other Related Posts

• June 13, 2008 -- Talent Management Losses At Yahoo
• November 5, 2007 -- More Speech-Enabled Applications With The Open Handset Alliance
• October 28, 2007 -- Sound Will Drive Mobile Web Growth

ReadWriteWeb seems to have created quite a furor in publicizing the views of start-up entrepreneur Russell Beattie.

The former Yahoo! Mobile evangelist announced today that he’s calling it quits for his company Mowser because the market for mobile browsing is taking a fast turn for the worse.
“I don’t actually believe in the ‘Mobile Web’ anymore, and therefore am less inclined to spend time and effort in a market I think is limited at best, and dying at worst. I’m talking specifically about sites that are geared 100% towards mobile phones and have little to no PC web presence. Two years ago I was convinced that the mobile web would continue to evolve in the West to mimic what was happening in countries like Japan and Korea, but it hasn’t happened, and now I’m sure it isn’t going to.

In other words, I think anyone currently developing sites using XHTML-MP mark-up, no JavaScript, geared towards cellular connections and two inch screens are simply wasting their time, and I’m tired of wasting my time.”

Many others disagree. Greg Sterling proclaims The ‘Mobile Web’ Is Dead, Long Live the Mobile Internet.

The iPhone and its clones, mobile usability improvements from search engines/portals and pure-play mobile companies, together with flat-rate pricing will drive mobile Internet adoption. Time is the “X-variable.” But it will happen. I guarantee it.

Indeed it’s more fundamental than that. As AmediaCirc.US points out, It’s Not The Mobile Web, It’s The Web. Just see the comment from Dean Collins to understand the possibilities. What we really are discussing is the Ubiquitous Web that the World Wide Web Consortium has promoted so strongly. If you really had any doubts, then check out Google’s philosophy.

Google’s goal is to provide a much higher level of service to all those who seek information, whether they’re at a desk in Boston, driving through Bonn, or strolling in Bangkok.

Their fifth ‘truth’ reads as follows:

You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
The world is increasingly mobile and unwilling to be constrained to a fixed location. Whether it’s through their PDAs, their wireless phones or even their automobiles, people want information to come to them. Google’s innovations in this area include Google Number Search, which reduces the number of keypad strokes required to find data from a web-enabled cellular phone and an on-the-fly translation system that converts pages written in HTML to a format that can be read by phone browsers. This system opens up billions of pages for viewing from devices that would otherwise not be able to display them, including Palm PDAs and Japanese i-mode, J-Sky, and EZWeb devices. Wherever search is likely to help users obtain the information they seek, Google is pioneering new technologies and offering new solutions.

With supporters like that how can the mobile Web fail?

Other Related Posts

• June 5, 2008 -- Talk To Your Bank For Added Security
• February 19, 2008 -- Google Moves Ahead In The Mobile Web Race
• November 24, 2007 -- Do You Want The Full Web On Your Phone?

Given the safety concerns of using a cell phone while driving, the words of that old Paul Evans song from the 60s (Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat) may strike a chord or perhaps a ringtone is now more fitting.

Nuance Mobile and TeleNav have just made it a whole lot easier. They’re encouraging you to throw your maps away. They do this by delivering speech-enabled GPS navigation to mobile phones. Here is part of their description of what they offer:

Using the Nuance Mobile Speech Platform on select devices, TeleNav now provides the ability to enter destinations for driving directions and business category searches by voice, so that subscribers no longer need to use a telephone keypad. Users can simply state the destination address, or select from a database of more than 10 million points of interest by stating a category, such as “pharmacy,” or by stating a specific business name, such as “Walgreens.”

Mobile users can conveniently access TeleNav GPS Navigator on a device they already carry with them and receive information in real-time based on their current location. Voice destination entry, which makes navigation services easier to use on mobile phones, has the ability to significantly enhance an already fast-growing market for mobile navigation. Industry analyst firm, In-Stat predicts that the total number of mapping and navigation mobile phone subscribers could exceed 70 million worldwide by 2012.

It certainly seems to be the right time for such voice technology.

Other Related Posts

• March 15, 2008 -- Voice Search On Mobile Phones For A Better User Experience
• February 15, 2008 -- Voice Recognition Technology To Stop Hospital Cross-Infections
• January 19, 2008 -- Fingerless Cell Phones

Bill Meisel, president of TMA Associate and the non-profit Applied Voice Input Output Society arranged the Voice Search Conference held in San Diego, California, March 10-12. One question posed there, according to Usability News, was Will Voice Search be THE Usability Breakthrough for Mobile Phones?

The dilemma according to Meisel is:

It’s not unusual for user interfaces to get “stuck” on one model. The layout of keyboards hasn’t changed for decades, for example, despite some efforts to make it easier to use (by putting oft-used letters under the strongest fingers). The telephone’s 12-button keypad is similarly persistent. Persistence of the user interface is a major barrier to increased use of mobile devices beyond communication.

He believes that “voice search” will come to dominate mobile phones. He has some powerful companies who share his view: just think Google, Microsoft and Nuance to name but three. This is an idea whose time has come.

Other Related Posts

• April 2, 2008 -- Keep Your Snoopy Eyes On The Road Ahead
• February 15, 2008 -- Voice Recognition Technology To Stop Hospital Cross-Infections
• January 19, 2008 -- Fingerless Cell Phones

“Yahoo Racing Ahead of Google in Asia’s Mobile Race?” was the question raised in June 2007. For its mobile search service Yahoo! oneSearch, which it then launched in seven Asian countries, including India, Yahoo! was targeting a subscriber base of 100 million through various partnerships. The article raised the question whether Yahoo could manage to stay ahead of Google in the mobile race in Asia. Clearly Yahoo has other things on its mind at the moment.

A much more important victory is heralded by this week’s headline, Google Wins Japan’s Mobile Net Battle. (Hat tip to Lee Messenger of Cre8asite Forums for that.) It suggests that the company’s deals with NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, Japan’s two biggest wireless carriers, have cemented its lead in mobile search. The article does point out that in the long run, the search companies and the carriers have interests that diverge more dramatically. The carriers want to channel subscribers through a proprietary Net gateway using proprietary browser software on mobile phones so they can charge subscribers for services, not just airtime. That’s at odds with Google’s mission: to give everyone Net access and make the online experience on a mobile device virtually indistinguishable from that on a PC.

Another important stage of the race is opening up with Voice Search. Voice Search is poorly understood. What will speech technology support? What applications do customers want? What will they pay for and how viable are ads in voice-search applications? The Voice Search Conference will be held in San Diego, March 10 - 12, 2008, to address these issues. Needless to say this is another area where Google is strongly represented.

As John Roese, CTO Nortel, muses as he returns from the Mobile World Congress 2008 – Oh, what a difference a year can make a:

You cannot consider wireless networks without including the carrier VoIP market, which is the agreed-upon method that will be used to make voice and real-time communications possible in these new networks. And you cannot consider the fate and shape of the wireless industry without including IT companies like Microsoft and Google and technology companies like Apple in the total view of the industry.

To boldly go where no man has gone before: that’s the Mobile Web. .. and Google must be a strong favorite in that amazing race.

Other Related Posts

• June 5, 2008 -- Talk To Your Bank For Added Security
• April 15, 2008 -- Mobile Web Dead - No, It’s Ubiquitous
• November 24, 2007 -- Do You Want The Full Web On Your Phone?

Hospitals like our homes are becoming increasingly filled with computers. There are clearly many benefits but the computers bring with them certain risks. As a recent article by Steven Reinberg pointed out, Stomach Flu Is Spread By Contaminated Computer Keyboards. As a U.S. health officials report stated, the highly contagious norovirus, often called the stomach flu, can be passed from one person to another through contact with commonly shared items such as computer keyboards and computer mice.

Steven Davidson and Gregg Malkary even go so far as to call mobile computers Dangerous Devices. They advise that:

Hospitals should explore opportunities to invest in mobile computing devices that can be more easily cleaned and sanitized at point of care with standard commercial cleansers. These devices ideally would be water resistant and hermetically sealed to prevent the entry of microorganisms.

Developing such devices represents some real challenges. Mobile computers in hospitals are in some cases called COWs: that stands for computers on wheels. Perhaps there’s more in the acronym that meets the eye.

Another medical announcement this week may suggest another complementary approach. The Pembroke Regional Hospital Board recently approved the purchase of a new voice recognition dictation system for its diagnostic imaging department. Catherine Junop, vice-president of human resources and organizational services at the hospital, said such systems are becoming the standard in hospital used by radiologists to file their reports. The chief advantage of course is that the System speeds medical information sharing. It also incidentally means that less fingers need to touch keyboards. Perhaps a small side benefit of voice recognition technology in hospitals will be less opportunity for the transfer of infectious diseases.

Other Related Posts

• May 16, 2008 -- Voice Recognition Improves Hospital ER Care
• April 2, 2008 -- Keep Your Snoopy Eyes On The Road Ahead
• March 15, 2008 -- Voice Search On Mobile Phones For A Better User Experience

Engadget Mobile often has some intriguing glimpses of what may be in our future. On the left below is their picture of what is rumored to be the Samsung i900. In their opinion, this is a phone that takes the keypadless, finger-friendly formula that’s oh-so-popular these days and injects some Windows Mobile 6.1 into the equation. They feel it will be a strong competition for a similar phone, the LG KS20.

Using a touchscreen clearly is becoming more popular with the Apple iPhone. However finger-friendly this way of working may be, it’s still not a very precise way of controlling your phone. Perhaps this is only a step towards what we have suggested before, the ultra-simple keyless cell phone. Cell phones are above all devices for handling sound. Why use any other kind of input? The image below on the right shows how simple it might be.

Other Related Posts

• April 2, 2008 -- Keep Your Snoopy Eyes On The Road Ahead
• March 15, 2008 -- Voice Search On Mobile Phones For A Better User Experience
• February 15, 2008 -- Voice Recognition Technology To Stop Hospital Cross-Infections

Sam Abuelsamid tells us that Ford’s new navigation system helps you find low gas prices

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, Ford will be showing off their latest in-car communications systems including an updated navigation system. The system set to debut this summer on the new Lincoln MKS and includes a new Sirius Travel Link system. Among other things, the Travel Link system has the ability to get fuel price data from stations in the area. It can even be set up to automatically give you directions to the station with lowest gas price.
…
Ford is answering the call with the best technology solutions from companies like Microsoft and SIRIUS, connecting customers with mobile devices, important information they need on the road and bringing the experience to life with the latest in navigation technology and branded audio.

Seyth Miersma reports that the Australians Are Developing High Tech Holden Cop Car. It’s almost like a James Bond car, 2008 model.

The Holden police car contains voice recognition software that let officers keep their hands in place on the wheel, as well as cameras that can beam the action in real-time to communications centers. There’s also an automatic license plate recognition camera proficient enough to scan 5000 to 8000 cars in a 10-hour period.

Which of these functionalities comes to your cell phone first will be influenced by market demand and supportive technology. However full voice control of your mobile device seems a strong contender.

Related: The Keyless Cell phone

Other Related Posts

• October 23, 2007 -- Free 411: GOOG or CALL
• October 20, 2007 -- Microsoft Outdoes Google In Voice Mobile Search
• July 30, 2007 -- Microsoft Still Product-Driven

2008 is a good year to think beyond Websites and start thinking about lifestyles—how we live and why we do what we do. The Web isn’t going away—but the way we interact with it, might just turn into a moving target. Actually, it already is.

(Thanks to Jennifer Laycock for this). As Armano says, life is becoming increasingly mobile.

While fully supporting his sentiments, and although Microsoft has some powerful initiatives, I predict that Mobile 2008 will be the year of the Google. They have a number of irons in the fire, but the activities of the Open Handset Alliance will strongly support their mobile thrust.

By chance, the US Patent Office has already published in 2008 a Google Patent Application on a User Interface for a Phone, which Bill Slawski describes:

User interface for mobile devices
Invented by Sanjay Mavinkurve, Shumeet Baluja, and Maryam Kamvar
US Patent Application 20080005668
Published January 3, 2008
Filed June 30, 2006

Since it was filed in 2006, nothing should be read into its appearance now. However I believe it has symbolic importance.

Other Related Posts

• November 12, 2007 -- Minimal Handsets Can Bridge The Digital Divide
• November 5, 2007 -- More Speech-Enabled Applications With The Open Handset Alliance