Hasta La Gadget!

Is there some kind of application that won’t feature Nuance’s Dragon voice recognition in the future? The company has announced a partnership with BMW that will see its Dragon Drive! Messaging service used in the 2012 BMW 7 Series, BMW 3 Series Touring, and BMW 3 Series ActiveHybrid. The 2012 BMW 7 Series will be the first car to feature the Messaging feature when it hits the market this month.

If you don’t know what Dragon Drive! Messaging is, you can probably take a guess. Users will be able to talk as normal and have the system transcribe messages and emails. That means hands will remain on the wheel and eyes on the road, reducing distractions and hopefully accidents as a result. There are some finer controls too, so you can speak certain commands to add spacing or shift paragraphs in emails, as well as adding correct punctuation.

The service will be free for the first 60 days, and after that you’ll have to pay Nuance a yearly subscription fee. Still, there’s support for six languages, which includes US and UK English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. BMW also has some of its own voice commands, like calling contacts or pulling up turn-by-turn navigation.

Nuance and BMW partner on Dragon Drive! Messaging is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Got a Toyota with Entune? Then keep an eye on your mailbox. We’re getting word that a free upgrade has started to be sent out to customers. The refresh adds some of the apps we first heard about back in January last year: iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com and OpenTable. As well as being able to enjoy more radio, book movie tickets and restaurant tables, a new voice recognition update means you can do even more while keeping your eyes on the road. Toyota says that it’ll be upgrading most models, if you want to know for sure, tap up the more coverage link for the breakdown.

[Thanks, Nate]

Toyota sends out free Entune upgrade, adds three apps and voice control originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Jul 2012 08:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Toyota  | Email this | Comments

Google has added offline voice typing to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, making the voice dictation system work even when your phone lacks a data connection. The company’s engineers had to shrink down the voice recognition engine significantly to make the system fit locally onto a phone, Google explained at IO today, meaning users will now no longer have to make sure they have a speedy data connection in order to take advantage of it.

In the on-stage demonstration, Google showed how a Galaxy Nexus running the new offline voice typing system in Jelly Bean could track a full sentence, transcribing it in seconds. In contrast, Apple’s voice recognition system in iOS – currently available on the iPhone 4S and new iPad – demands a web connection for the company’s servers to do the heavy crunching.

Offline voice typing will initially only be supported for US English, with Google planning to add further languages later on. Meanwhile there’s new Hebrew, Persian, Hindi and Thai language text support introduced in Jelly Bean.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean adds Offline Voice Typing is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.