Talk to the Tube: Will Voice-Enabled TV Catch On?
By: Todd Spangler
Multichannel News
2012-11-15 17:32:00
http://www.multichannel.com/blogs/bit-rate/talk-tube-will-voice-enabled-tv-catch
Lots of us scream at the TV (see: the recent presidential debates, major
sporting events). Soon we'll have to be more polite -- because now the
televisions will actually start listening.
You will be able to literally ask your TV, set-top or smartphone:
"What's on TV tonight?" and get personalized results, delivered
instantly. Or you might request something more specific, like, "When do
the Knicks play next?"
AT&T has taken a first step in this area, with a remote-control app it
debuted in September that lets U-verse TV subscribers change the channel
and perform other commands by speaking (see Talk To Your TV: AT&T
Voice-Enables U-verse Remote-Control App
<http://www.multichannel.com/news-article/talk-your-tv-att-voice-enables-u-verse-remote-control-app/139461>).
Microsoft's Kinect attachment for Xbox 360 also provides voice commands.
Now Google is getting in the game. The next update for its Google TV
platform, coming to compatible LG HDTVs this week, will add the ability
for a user to speak the title of a TV show, movie or YouTube clip to
start watching it, or open applications, launch websites or do a Google
search, according to a company blog post
<http://googletv.blogspot.com/2012/11/google-tv-now-faster-and-easier.html>.
Will TV viewers start chatting up their sets? I'd bet on it -- if for no
other reason because it's a pain in the neck to punch in search terms on
a remote control.
Plus, the next generation of voice-activated TV technologies will be
even smarter.
Apple's Siri feature <http://www.apple.com/ios/siri/>, introduced in the
iPhone 4S, spawned a rush in the TV business (and other industries)
after showing what was possible by marrying voice recognition with
advanced natural-language processing.
Veveo <http://corporate.veveo.net/>, a provider of predictive-search
technologies for pay TV and mobile devices, is introducing integrated
voice and natural-language capabilities for television and video search,
discovery and navigation. The company isn't alone: Other vendors working
on voice-enabled TV search include Rovi
<https://www.multichannel.com/content/cable-show-2012-rovi-weaving-siri-voice-controls-tv-guide>,
Jinni and ActiveVideo Networks
<http://www.multichannel.com/content/ces-talk-your-tv-activevideo-demo-voice-controlled-navigation>.
A voice interface for TV just makes sense given the amount of content
available through pay-TV services today, says Veveo chief marketing
officer Sam Vasisht.
"The television ecosystem has gotten so complicated, with so much
programming, people can't find what they want," he says. "You will just
talk to your TV the way you talk to a person."
The Andover, Mass.-based company says its search technology already
powers 45 million set-tops in the U.S. and Canada, with customers that
include Comcast, DirecTV, Cablevision Systems and Rogers. (Verizon FiOS,
one of Veveo's initial deployments, is a licensee of the company's patents.)
Veveo's voice-interface solutions will be commercially available as part
of its Reveal 3.0 product launch targeted for early 2013. It can work
with any voice-recognition engine, according to Vasisht, including those
from Nuance (which powers Siri), Google, AT&T and Microsoft.
A video demo of Veveo's voice-search interface is available here:
http://youtu.be/jycxPVzE1H0.
--
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George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Mail: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
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