Nilhan Jayasinghe » Mobile

Google mobile rumours stirring again

nilhan — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:09:15 +0000

I’ve managed so far to stay away from the rumours surrounding Google’s plans to build a Gphone. Mainly because this doesn’t fit right with me. At a time when, even the world’s biggest handset maker Nokia is moving their focus to mobile services with the acquisition of Navteq – Google building handsets seem a crazy idea.

But yesterday’s report in The Wall Street Journal does seem plausible. According to reports from ‘reliable’ sources, Google plans to release a an open mobile platform which can be freely used by handset manufacturers and developers.

This will enable Google to circumnavigate some of the current issues preventing users from accessing their services on mobile. If anything is going to consolidate mobile into some coherent standards then Google could be it.

McDonalds to provide free Wifi in UK restaurants

nilhan — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:40:18 +0000

McDonalds joins the free WiFi bandwagon in an effort to lure more upmarket customers. I know what you’re thinking – how is this going to make me eat their burgers? Fear not – healthy food options and designer furniture also on its way.

Think a coffee and the free Wifi code for me please!

Microsoft to acquire TellMe

nilhan — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:04:08 +0000

Microsoft has announced that it will be buying the voice recognition company TellMe. A leading player in the field of voice operated phone services, TellMe announced the launch of the first Voice search service earlier this year. So not very surprising that Microsoft wants to acquire their technology. This acquisition makes perfect sense for both companies.

With the backing from MS, we’re sure to see some significant jumps in the advancement of voice for mobile. Something the mobile industry is in desperate need of.

TellMe launches mobile voice search

nilhan — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:37:58 +0000

TellMe a company started in 1999 by Mike McCue of former Netscape fame, has created the first voice activated local search application for mobile phones. The search functionality may be currently limited to providing local business information on a selected range of handsets, but this may be the start of the mobile voice search revolution many have been waiting for. Read the rest of the story over at TechCrunch

Blinkx to power MSN video search

nilhan — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 12:33:37 +0000

Microsoft signs deal with Blinkx who will provide search functionality for MSN video. According to Suranga Chandratillake Blinkx co-founder and CTO, this could mean millions of dollars in additional revenue.

Blinx goes way beyond searching through text titles, descriptnios and user defined tags, into decoding words from speech and even attempting to recognise images. In video terms, this is like jumping from a meta tag engine to Google.

In a post a few days ago, I was talking about the greater funding provided by the major search engines to advance voice recognition for mobile search , so, I’m all in favour of the move by Microsoft. Which I think will only help research and development in this exciting area of search.

Mobile driving Voice Recognition

nilhan — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:52:45 +0000

If like me you’ve stayed away from connecting to Internet using your mobile phone because, let’s face it, it’s a pain in the ass, voice recognition may finally save the day. According to Informationweek report on search engines are adopting the technology, which I hope is going to come of age before too long.

” BOSTON – Voice recognition technology, long touted as the next big thing, will get a chance to live up to its promise as wireless carriers and Internet portals like Google and Yahoo push the technology onto mobile phones.”