| In Depth: The next-gen speech tech that's available today Mar 31st 2013, 09:00 
Did the world of speech technology begin and end with Apple Siri? Not if you have kept an eye on recent advancements. While the iPhone virtual assistant can read you the weather, she is not perfect. Ask her for flight info and you'll get a blank stare. For anything vague complex (say, "What is that local exhibit with Egyptian mummies?") and she will show you a Web page, not provide the answer. Fortunately, speech is advancing quickly. Here are several new speech technology innovations worth investigating. 1. PixelToneOne of the most obvious improvements in speech tech has to do with natural language control. In this upcoming iPad app, which is a combined effort between Adobe Research and University of Michigan, you can speak commands like "make the image heavenly" to produce a photographic effect, or say "make John lighter" to lighten a person in the photo. The main benefit is in reducing the steps for editing and making them easier to use. 
2. Interactions Virtual AssistantMost automated customer support lines are not that automated. If you call FedEx, for example, you have to say very specific commands like "track a shipment" to get the computer to respond. Interactions has developed a natural language speech system. So, when a customer calls, they can say a more complex phrase like "change my e-mail in my last shipment order" and the computer will respond correctly, verifying the instructions and sending a summary of the call. 
3. Artificial Solutions IndigoRecently released for Android, with a Windows Phone 8 smartphone version in the works, this personal assistant responds to questions about the weather ala Siri. But the app ties into the Google Calendar on your Android phone so you create a new meeting by speaking, then get an audible reminder before the meeting. You can also search for nearby landmarks and eateries, speak a status message, compose an e-mail and control your music. 
4. Panasonic Viera WT60 HDTVMost voice-controlled televisions offer a limited feature set. Namely, you can only say words that appear on the screen. The recently released Panasonic Viera WT60 goes much further. With speech tech provided by Nuance, the TV responds to commands for searching the Web (you can say any search string you want) and also lets you speak the name of any show to search across multiple TV guides to see when that show is airing. 
5. Dragon Dictate for Mac 3Many of the speech advancements of late have taken place on mobile devices. This new app, which allows you to dictate a longer document or e-mail, is now 15% more accurate than previous releases. The app now lets you load a pre-recorded dictation from a voice recorder and, by adjusting rules for your profile, have the speech recognizer automatically make corrections (e.g., spelling out all abbreviations you make). 
6. 2013 BMW 750 LXI with Dragon Drive and Siri Eyes FreeUsing your mobile device for speech is helpful in most instances, except when you're driving. It's often difficult (or illegal) to look down at the screen to see results. This high-tech BMW uses speech in new ways. The Dragon Drive feature lets you speak any new text message or e-mail and listen to incoming messages. The Siri Eyes Free service means you can connect your iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 and use Siri. When you ask about the weather or search the Web, your phone screen automatically dims. 
7. Google Voice SearchOne of the most important improvements in speech tech has to do with the algorithms in Google Search. For the past few years, Google has steadily added new natural language search tech to their Web search on mobile device and the Web. For example, when you ask a question like "how tall is George Clooney" and then ask "what is his most recent movie" the search engine will know you are still talking about the famous actor. Google also understands context better. If you ask about a museum exhibit, Google knows you mean in your area and will return the name of the museum even though you never asked for it. 
    |  | Explained: What is Bluetooth? How it works and how you can use it Mar 31st 2013, 07:00 
Bluetooth is one of the great survivors and adaptors of the mobile world, defying predictions of its looming irrelevance every few years by evolving new skills and remaining a key part of the tech spec of today's newest and most edge-cutting smartphones. At its most basic level, Bluetooth is a wireless method of connecting gadgets, a bit like today's ubiquitous Wi-Fi protocol, only without the need for a central router to manage the connections. It's more personal, like a digital handshake. Phones with Bluetooth in them can connect directly to other mobiles within a few yards of each other, making it an ideal way to share small pockets of information between phones, like sending contact details and sharing MP3s with friends. 
Bluetooth is also a feature of many laptops, plus it's universal -- a laptop can see and share data with a phone, a game controller can link to your tablet and much more. You pair a couple of devices through the options (so complete strangers can't send you random files), then they're linked and you can transfer your stuff through your phone's usual sharing system. This simplicity is why it's still around. It's the glue that holds the tech world together. Here's how it works. Bluetooth specsManaged by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group – a non-profit collective of several major mobile tech firms – the technology keeps evolving, with the latest 4.0 spec using less power than ever and opening up yet more options for linking things to other things without having to find and untangle the relevant cables. 
The Bluetooth you have on your flash new smartphone today is likely to be v4.0 of the protocol. Each few years Bluetooth refreshes its spec, building a new set of tools to take into account modern hardware developments while also unifying the standard to ensure all devices can chat with each other. Earlier revisions saw it add support for streaming audio as well as file transfers, opening up the horrifying world of the hands-free Bluetooth headset, before its audio capabilities were later updated with higher bandwidth rates thanks to the Advanced Audio Distribution protocol that also allowed the transfer of two-channel stereo audio at a decent bitrate. Enabling Bluetooth The precise technicalities of activating Bluetooth will vary depending on your variety of mobile phone (or laptop, controller, tablet, etc), but there's only one real approach to doing so. You switch it on and make sure your device is "visible" and broadcasting its availability. That's the important first bit. Second, and a bit more complex, is pairing your device with another so they have a trusted and secure two-way link. 
This usually involves one device sending a request to another phone or laptop for permission to access and share files. This is an important part of the Bluetooth chain, as it means you control who can and can't access your phone. Once that initial permission request has been okayed, you should be free to initiate the sending and sharing of content via the little wireless link. Most modern phones will let you specify a visibility timeout as well, meaning there will only be a small window of time during which your phone is broadcasting its availability on the Bluetooth channels. Another nice little security feature. Bluetooth security There's been the odd low-level concern over the years, but Bluetooth's key pairing mechanism and authorisation system means that you're pretty much bulletproof from outside attack. The only way someone can "see" your phone or laptop over Bluetooth is if you make it available, then allow them access. And if you do all of that, you probably know them, and are sitting next to them, and don't mind letting them ping you photos, MP3s and contact details through the air. 
    | | Lenovo 'in talks' to buy NEC mobile, could scupper its interest in BlackBerry Mar 30th 2013, 15:04 
Lenovo's efforts to enter the smartphone industry seem to have taken another twist, with the company reportedly interested in acquiring floundering NEC's mobile division. Reuters reported on Friday that the two companies are in talks over a potential takeover, following two straight years of losses for the Japanese company's mobile offerings. Lenovo has been vocal about its desires to pick up a smartphone property to complement its booming PC and tablet business. High ranking officials at the company have recently been talking up potential interest in buying up BlackBerry, but any purchase of NEC would surely kill such talk. Deal or no deal?In response to media reports on Friday, NEC issued a statement claiming nothing had been decided, but did not deny talks were ongoing. "Amid the rapidly changing market we are considering a number of ways to bolster the competitiveness of our mobile phone business, but nothing has been decided," the company said. Former Everton FC kit sponsor NEC has struggled to gain traction internationally with its range of handsets, while competition from Samsung and Apple has hindered its efforts domestically. Lenovo hasn't yet commented on the reports.     | | Selected Apple iMessage users hit by DDoS attack, forcing iOS app crash Mar 30th 2013, 13:57 
A group of iOS developers and hackers are reporting they've become the target of a malicious attack which overwhelms the Apple iMessage application with spam texts. The attack, which appears to be confined to those directly targeted, sends messages (claiming to be from Anonymous) in such a large volume that the recipient is constantly receiving notifications. The next level is to send a single 'Zaglo text' so large in size that the iOS iMessage app cannot cope with the load and crashes. As Apple's iMessage app does not limit how fast texts can be sent, and does not allow users to block senders, there's no mechanism in place to prevent their instant delivery. Motivation?This constitues a new kind of DDoS attack, the kind of which we've seen hackers and online activists use to bring down government websites in the past couple of years. The iMessage pranksters' motivation isn't totally clear at present, but The Next Web reports that the attack originated from a Twitter account "involved in selling UDIDs, provisioning profiles and more that facilitate in the installation of pirated App Store apps which are re-signed and distributed." The report suggests that the attack was conducted using AppleScript to set up and send the overwhelming number of messages using the OS X iMessage client, something one victim said was extremely easy to do. iOS developer Paul Grant told The Next Web: "What's happening is a simple flood: Apple doesn't seem to limit how fast messages can be sent, so the attacker is able to send thousands of messages very quickly." Apple has been notified of the issue, but is yet to comment.     | | Kogan dictates daily data limits for 'unlimited' plans Mar 28th 2013, 01:16 
Kogan Mobile has stirred up controversy in its first few months of service, with several customers complaining that they have been forced off the network for violating its fair use policy in relation to data usage without understanding how it worked in the first place. This has prompted an amendment to the terms of service. The addition of a new Critical Information Summary now clearly outlines what Kogan Mobile considers unfair use. Fair's fair?As reported by Whistleout, the ToS say that a customer using 400MB of data a day for three consecutive days, or 1GB of data in a single day will be pushed, or churned, off the network. This level of use would suggest that the service is being used for a commercial purpose, or to replace a fixed line broadband service, in the eyes of the telco. In regards to calls and text messages, customers will face the same fate if "...calls or texts within a single 30 day period exceeds the volume of calls or texts made by 99% of users of the same type of Service." A fair use policy make sense for the calling and messages portion of the Kogan Mobile service, as these are the parts labelled Unlimited and open to abuse.. But, the data element in the plans is capped at 6GB per month, and it doesn't seem right that Kogan Mobile should be creating obstacles to how a customer chooses to use the data that they pay for upfront each month. In fact, this should be seen as a opportunity for the company to sell these power users more data when they reach their 6GB limit. Customers who have come forward with complaints about Kogan Mobile have spoken about being churned off the network without warning.An Adelaide man told News.com.au that he had been refused a recharge of his service without notice, after using over 8GB of data in 21 days. Kogan Mobile told him that it suspected his account was being used for a business purpose.   | |
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