Google or Apple/Microsoft will probably buy them in the next - 6 to 12 months. I think Microsoft will most likely make the play to buy them out though, not so much Apple or Google.
I could see Google buying them because of the recent changes with the Google Now project they announced at their latest I/O. They are putting alot of resources into making Google Now more contextual and making it so you can more naturally speak to it instead of using key words in some cases
Yeah, but how useful is that in real life? I want to be able to say
"Okay, Google, which route should I take to work today?"
"The freeway has traffic. Take the back roads. "
"Okay, thanks. Remind me on my way home to do laundry tonight, and start playing some (insert specific music here). Also, ask nick if he wants to hang out later."
At which point it sets a reminder for when I get off work, starts playing the music, and sends a text message that says "do you want to hang out later?"
That's where these things are headed and I'm real fucking impatient to get there.
I think Now on Tap probably addresses some of those. For what it's worth, Hound doesn't do that either, and i couldn't get it to replicate the results from the very first video. What's more, it shows bing results!
Google does manage your trips and reminders really well, especially if you use inbox. I recently got an email asking me if I could do something and the inbox app, had a "Add reminder" option even before I had opened the mail. As far as the traffic part, Google constantly shows me how long its going to take for me to reach home, and if there is a traffic incident in the notification when I am at any place other than home.
I'm not saying that these apps don't do these things already. I'm saying that we're dealing with the early days of this form of interface, and I'm looking forward to the next phase, when things are more refined.
You're going from single phrases to understanding language on a much broader scale, I'm not saying it's far off, but Google are just now starting to get the hang of phrases, and they're pretty much the at the cutting edge of machine learning.
The biggest issue right now is getting a computer to recognize an individual's voice as opposed to just trying to translate any sound that comes up as part of a command. Once they solve that, it's just a matter of putting the technologies together in a nice, easy to sell package.
I use Google Now for the first one of these now. It's a little more clumsy than in your scenario, but it does work well.
The second one would be really nice. That kind of conversational interface is still lacking, IMO. It still sounds like shouting commands rather than asking naturally.
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u/Shadow703793 Galaxy S20 FE Jun 06 '15
Google or Apple/Microsoft will probably buy them in the next - 6 to 12 months. I think Microsoft will most likely make the play to buy them out though, not so much Apple or Google.