Speech Technology - October 2008 - (Page 13)

> > N E W S > > T R E N D S > > A N A LY S I S > > N E W S > > T R E N D S > > A N A LY S I S > > N E W S > > T R E N D S > > A N A LY S I S NORTEL ACQUIRES DIAMONDWARE On the same day in late August that Nortel announced that a group of its in-house R&D technologists was developing a prototype to harness the power of Web 2.0 and 3D audiovisual virtual world technology to bring new dimensions to business collaboration, the communications giant acquired DiamondWare, a pioneer in high-definition, proximity-based 3D positional voice technology. The deal is reportedly worth about $10 million. Nortel will leverage DiamondWare’s technology across its Carrier and Enterprise portfolios to enhance its multimedia voice conferencing and Voice over Internet Protocol solutions. In addition, it will be used for a variety of new projects that are part of Nortel’s Incubation Program. One such project, dubbed web.alive, is a 3D Web networking solution that will allow users to collaborate, socialize, and conduct business in a virtual environment leveraging voice, HD audio, presence, identity, and corporate security technologies. DiamondWare’s technology, which uses wideband stereo capability and custom spatial positioning, has already been deployed in gaming environments, by the U.S. military in tactical intercom systems, and by a broad range of carriers and equipment manufacturers. Executives at DiamondWare also note that the technology can have great potential in traditional telephony and conferencing applications, mobile unified communications, and virtual world environments. under-the-radar speech news // BY LEONARD KLIE The speech-related developments spotlighted in this column don’t quite warrant a full news story, but they’re still too eccentric for us to pass up. Calling all call center agents: Nuance Communications wants to hear about the funniest, weirdest, kookiest call you’ve ever received. Like the one about the man who tried to defrost a bag of frozen peas in his clothes dryer and then called the appliance maker’s call center to find out how to get mashed peas out of the dryer’s lint filter. Or the lady who called a computer manufacturer because she could only squeeze two CDs into her desktop’s single-disk CD-ROM drive and the program she was trying to install came on three disks. With the launch of Nuance’s “Can’t Stop Stupid Calls” contest, Julia Ochinero, the company’s executive communications director, is giving a little recognition to the agents on the front lines of customer service trying to do the best they can with calls like these. Entries can be submitted online at www.cantstopstupid calls.com. The deadline for entries is October 6, when the stories will go live. People will then be able to post comments and vote for the funniest stories. The first 20 entries will receive $100, and $1,000 will go to the winners in three categories: You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me, Sounds Like Fiction, and Vacation Day Earned. The person who submits the entry that receives www.speechtechmag.com the most votes online will also receive $1,000. Winners will be announced the week of October 27. Ochinero said the contest is about providing a forum for some light-hearted fun and not making anyone look stupid, but sometimes it can’t be avoided. People do that all by themselves. In the “I Just Don’t Get People Sometimes” category, the latest trend in GPS automotive technology is downloading celebrity voices to your Garmin or TomTom to give you driving directions. Companies like Pigtones, Navtones, and a few others have put together a lineup of celebrity voices— some of them real and some of them impersonated (often badly)—that include President Bush, Gary Busey, Burt Reynolds, Elvis Presley, Dennis Hopper, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Clint Eastwood, and pop-culture icons like Yoda, Darth Vader, Austin Powers, and Homer Simpson. There are even a number of self-professed politically incorrect voices like “Billy-Bob the Cussing Redneck,” “Jamal the Ghetto Pimp,” “Wrong Juan,” and “Habib the New York Cabbie.” I can certainly see how some people might find these voices entertaining at first. As for me, if I’m driving around lost in unfamiliar territory, I already feel badly enough; I don’t need Mr. T calling me a fool as well. http://www.cantstopstupidcalls.com http://www.cantstopstupidcalls.com http://www.worldlyvoices.com http://www.speechtechmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Speech Technology - October 2008

Speech Technology - October 2008 Contents Editor’s Letter Industry View Inside Outsourcing Interact Keynoter Highlights the Shrinking Technological World Former Hacker Tackles IVR and Biometrics ‘Press 1’ for Caller Thoughts Soundbytes Voice Vote A New Dragon Emerges Overheard/Underheard An Emotional Mess Emotional Intelligence The Case for Call Recording Unified in Care and Communications An Education in E-Learning Guest Column Standards Speech Solutions Voice Value Forward Thinking

Speech Technology - October 2008

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