Gadget Access

Nuance, a company working to get into the voicemail to text service industry has confirmed they are working with TeleNav to make GPS even better.  With Nuances technology, users will be able to say, “airport” and TeleNav’s navigator will guide you there.

Termed “voice destination entry” the service would be a boon to mobile phone navigation users like myself.  Having to key in where you want to go just isn’t safe and in many states, is illegal.  This smart combination is going to be big in GPS navigation.  Nuance brings its years of experience with Dragon Naturally Speaking products to TeleNav’s great GPS navigation application.

Just how big is mobile phone navigation?  “Industry analyst firm, In-Stat predicts that the total number of mapping and navigation mobile phone subscribers could exceed 70 million worldwide by 2012.” At $10 per month (the going rate for navigation via TeleNav and others, that equates to $8.4 Billion in recurring yearly revenue.  Yikes.

This combo is one to watch.

Press release [Nuance]

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Posted Apr 9th 2008 4:06AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Wearables
Not like we haven’t seen a similar idea passed around before, but James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau have apparently taken things one step further with their LED Dog Tail Communicator. As the title implies, the device would simply be affixed to your favorite canine’s tail, after which it could broadcast actual words based on the speed of the tail wag. There’s no telling just how many phrases the thing could spell out — and honestly, we have no idea how accurate the statements would actually be — but this may be just the thing to keep Rover quiet while still letting him get his point across.

[Via Coolest-gadgets]

In keeping with the recent trend of the Sony Ericsson P5 Paris leaks, we have yet another image courtesy of se-nse. This time we are getting a glimpse of the slide-out QWERTY keyboard and the phone is still looking good. Although we are still waiting for the video so we can see it in action.

Via [se-nse]

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Yahoo is in talks to bring Google ads in on a trial basis.  The trial will allow Google ads to be served on up to 3% of Yahoo’s search queries.  Interesting.

Both Yahoo and Google released statements saying they are not married and they are not sure this is love.  They are just going on a date and that is it.  Stop reading into this.  That is the conversation I am sure my daughter will have with me one day.  Funny, it works here too.

Yahoo is clearly signaling investors that they are up for pissing off Microsoft.  Microsofts response has been ours seems to be the only game in town for Yahoo, though investor Legg Mason (no relation) has shored up support for Yahoo should things get ugly.

More as it happens or doesn’t happen.

Read [Wall Street Journal]

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Posted Apr 9th 2008 7:35AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Laptops
Not content with just ordering a touchscreen-packin’ Cloudbook from Japan, Azazel decided to take matters into his own wonder-working hands and hack up his vanilla unit to include the oh-so-coveted touch support. Based on his reports, disassembling the rig and stuffing the new panel in was a lesson in simplicity (save for one quick round with a soldering iron), but actual usability proved to be somewhat of a letdown. It was noted that using the small screen with just a fingertip was challenging, and while relying on a pen did make things marginally easier, we’d think long and hard about your needs / wishes before taking the plunge.

[Thanks, David]