I Hear Voices in my Head

I have been playing around with the iPad for a while now, so naturally I started thinking about what its shortcomings were. I realized that probably the weakest link in the iPad is the ability to type on it effectively (yes, I have the keyboard dock..it is just not enough). This in turn hampers your ability to key in search terms, URLs in Safari, mails, tweet, comments in Facebook and so on. Touch interface is great but typing in iPad is not fun.

This means the best alternative - Voice Commands have to become a core capability for the iPad. And as if Apple read my mind goes out and buys Siri which makes an iPhone app called the Virtual Personal Assistant - a pioneer in voice enabled products. I am 100% sure a voice enabled iPad is coming soon.

Another technology trend-setter, Google, has also integrated voice capabilities deep into its search and voice products.

This trend was highlighted when one of my favorite product launches at DEMO Fall 2010 was VoiceBase Inc which makes searching audio for words simple. You upload your meeting, training or conference audio, Voicebase transcribes it and then allows you to search for words and playback relevant audio clips, all utilizing a simple interface.

With that in context a few thoughts

1. Voice recognition and voice command technology is going to explode in the next few months/year because Voice, for humans is the most intuitive command technology. Not typing, not touch, not a clickwheel, not a switch..
2. Technology and computing power is available in acceptable form factors especially with the advent of the cloud to allow voice recognition in common devices.
3. Voice recognition is one of the most underutilized technologies around us. Imagine the physical switches in your house replaced by voice enabled switches. Imagine the savings in wear and tear because you eliminate physical contact with switches, TV remotes etc. 
4. It will also change how you interact with computers.. you can stop typing and start speaking instead, you don't have to sit at your desk to type, the laptop can be shrunk considerably by getting rid of the keyboard etc.

We probably will have to learn a specific language style to interact with various devices, but I am sure it will be well worth it.

We have ignored the voices in our head for too long..