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Google is planning to compete with Nuance and other voice recognition companies head on by opening up its speech recognition API to third-party developers. To attract developers, the app will be free at launch with pricing to be introduced at a later date.

We’d been hearing murmurs about this service developing for weeks now. The company formally announced the service today during its NEXT cloud user conference, where it also unveiled a raft of other machine learning developments and updates, most significantly a new machine learning platform.

The Google Cloud Speech API, which will cover over 80 languages and will work with any application in real-time streaming or batch mode, will offer full set of APIs for applications to “see, hear and translate,” Google says. It is based on the same neural network tech that powers Google’s voice search in the Google app and voice typing in Google’s Keyboard. There are some other interesting features, such as working in noisy environments and in real-time.

Google’s move will have a large impact on the industry as a whole — and particularly on Nuance, the company long thought of as offering the best voice recognition capabilities in the business, and most certainly the biggest offering such services. A number of Nuance customers, including startups, could leave it in favor of Google’s technology, which not only offers an improved experience over current providers, but will also be made available at a lower cost.

To attract developer interest initially, the API will be completely free to use. Over time, the API will be paid, but likely have low-cost pricing tiers, we understand. Google may choose to raise those prices over time after it becomes the dominant player in the industry.

Google has offered limited access to its voice technology in its products to date. Developers can make JavaScript calls to the Chrome API, for example, which are then routed to the speech recognition API. And Google announced a Voice Interaction API at Google I/O in 2015, which allows Android developers to add voice interactions to their apps. But Google had yet to open up access to the speech recognition API directly.

The introduction of the speech API won’t only impact Nuance and other speech recognition providers but is also being seen as an attack on Apple, whose virtual assistant Siri’s voice recognition capabilities pale in comparison to Google’s. It’s also yet to offer an API for developers to use the Siri tech in their own apps.

There were hints that Google would be putting a greater emphasis on its voice technology and many use cases. For example, the company announced in February that it would allow Google Docs users to edit and format their documents by voice.

 

The original source of the article here. 

Communication Channel table

Use this tool to check the advantages and disadvantage of each communication channel.

Communication Channel	At its best	Potential downsides	Think about
Team meetings	Can make communication personal and relevant to the team involved Opportunity for discussion, feedback, questioning and ideas Good line manager can facilitate a lively and interactive session Can help build understanding and involvement	Success depends on skill of leader Time commitment for both manager and audience Beware of content overload; other channels are more effective for information delivery	Making the best possible use of this time – it’s valuable Training line managers Making sure you uphold meeting discipline if you want them to happen
Email	Can reach mass audiences fast Cost effective and simple to use Consistent and controlled message Reaches the recipient directly Good for information, awareness or instruction	Not everyone may have access Impersonal and open to misinterpretation Can result quickly in information overload Can’t tell if messages have been read Doesn’t prioritize messages Can’t generate dialogue or discussion	Controlling access to mass distribution lists Using the subject box to get across your key message Keeping it short and simple Using headings and bullet points for key messages and to break up the text
Intranet	Fast and consistent Possibilities are endless – can be entertaining and visually snappy Good for information store, reference and raising awareness Info shares and bulletin boards good for involvement and discussion Web stats show who is reading	Not everyone may have access Relies on people seeking out information People may not have time to read it Difficult to police Can become unwieldy, hard to navigate and full of outdated information	Including “killer content" to draw people in (expenses forms, classified ads and processes people need to do their jobs)
Video	Creative and entertaining Shows real people talking about their experiences The camera never lies – can show proof or progress Makes people and places accessible for a mass audience Consistent, controlled message	Potentially expensive Not interactive on its own Can be seen as glossy corporate propaganda Talking heads alone are rarely engaging Can be difficult for mobile workforce	Using as part of a briefing session to stimulate debate Using “real people" to talk about their experiences, not just senior execs
Print magazine	Reach the entire company with a consistent message Even time-pressured staff can read in coffee breaks, on trains, etc. Can address/reflect staff feedback and respond Can show how everything fits together and reinforce company brand	Can be seen as biased and not credible Information dates quickly Challenging to make it relevant to all audiences No opportunity for discussion or checking understanding	How to encourage people to open it, e.g., a competition Using a staff editorial board to test content and make sure articles address the real issues
Audio	Good for remote workforces Effective for information and instruction	Relies on people choosing to play it	Including a hook that will make people listen (e.g. as above, a competition)
Notice boards	Visible and may catch people’s eye when too time pressured to read anything else Good for instructions and information	May not be read Usually no owner – how often do you see out-of-date posters? Lose their impact if over-used by every project in the company	Putting a “display until" date on posters Posting in prominent places such as in the lift or by the coffee machine
Text messaging	Good for reachcing remote workers Good for crisis communication Can be used to direct people to further sources of information Can update senior managers on important news whilst on leave	Will annoy people very quickly if overused	Making sure you have mobile contact details for all your senior team in case of crisis
Events/ roadshows	Opportunity for key people to reach mass audiences face-to-face Flexible and responsive Can include Q&A sessions, break-out groups and involve people Can build team spirit and motivate Can be used to address controversial issues	Can be one way “tell" sessions Agenda set by center may not be what the audience wants May be expensive Time consuming for organizers, presenters and audience	Involving staff in setting the agenda and format Involving staff in event itself, as hosts or facilitators Using interactive voting technology to maximize audience involvement
Open forum	Gives opportunity to raise and discuss the real issues Genuine open dialogue Helps leaders to understand how things really are Enables people to feel heard	Dismissive or aggressive response to questions can close down dialogue Line managers can feel disempowered if their decisions are over-ruled or contradicted	Issuing a summary of discussion for everyone to see Proactively raising difficult issues or asking for questions in advance to prompt the real debate
Site visits	Shows leaders are listening and want to see what the real issues are Keeps leaders in touch with the real issues Promotes dialogue and understanding	Leaders won’t experience the real issues if treated as “royal visits" May do more harm than good if leaders show by what they say that they are out of touch Time-consuming for senior leaders to visit multiple sites	Including a spell of work shadowing/call listening alongside organized forums Giving leaders a good brief on site issues before they visit Tracking issues raised and reporting back on actions
Voicemail	Helpful for remote workers Opportunity to hear about issues from senior leaders	People will hang up if the message is too long	Using a text message to alert remote workers to an urgent voicemail announcement
Web-casting and similar	Opportunity for senior leaders to reach mass audiences with a consistent message in real time Can involve Q&A sessions	May be expensive Need the right technology in place Noise the right technology in place May be difficult for all staff to be available at the same time (e.g., call centers)	Finding out about new technology continually emerging in this area

Original source of the article: www.melcrum.com

Google today announced the launch of the Cloud Vision application programming interface, a tool developers can use to add image recognition to their own applications. The API is available now in limited preview through the Google Cloud Platform, product manager Ram Ramanathan wrote in a blog post.

This is a long time coming, if you ask me. Google has built up very strong technology in the area of image recognition, which can be applied to many domains, including optical character recognition (OCR), face detection, and object recognition.

“Advances in machine learning, powered by platforms like TensorFlow, have enabled models that can learn and predict the content of an image,” Ramanathan wrote. “Our limited preview of Cloud Vision API encapsulates these sophisticated models as an easy-to-use REST API.”

Even if it’s unsurprising, it’s a smart thing for Google to add in its public cloud service portfolio as the company challenges market leader Amazon Web Services, as well as Microsoft, which fields Azure and has image recognition technologies via Project Oxford.

Of course, developers can call on open-source technologies if they want to build their own, or even look to startups to find more easy-to-use image recognition services. But like other cloud providers, Google wants to give you a bunch of tools inside of one public cloud.

In terms of externalizing its machine-learning savvy, Google has long offered the Prediction API, but it’s limited in capability, with no support for images. That’s why today’s announcement is a big one for Google.

Original source of the article: www.venturebeat.com