Speech Technology eWeekly - February 14, 2018

Speech Technology News

Interpol to Add Voice Recognition to Its Investigative Tools

According to a post on the European Union's website, the EU-funded SIIP (Speaker Identification Integrated Project) aims to put an end to any doubts about voice recognition in the court room "with an innovative probabilistic, language-independent identification system. This system uses a novel Speaker-Identification (SID) engine and a Global Info Sharing Mechanism (GISM) to identify unknown speakers who are captured in lawfully intercepted calls, recorded crime or terror arenas, social media and any other type of speech source."

WP Engine Using Amazon Web Services to Bring Voice Technology to WordPress Websites

WP Engine, a WordPress digital experience platform, announced its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch the Amazon Polly plugin, which transforms text into lifelike speech. With the assistance of the Amazon Polly plugin, publishers can turn their written content into podcasts to reach consumers on the go.

Essence Connects to Google Assistant

Essence's WeR@Home allows users to connect smart home systems with voice commands through Google Assistant.

Bright Pattern Expands into Singapore

Bright Pattern has extended its cloud contact center service to Singapore.

Envision Partners with AVST

Envision, a contact center workforce optimization provider, announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST), provider in the field of enterprise communications solutions.

Telefonica Introduces Speech Recognition App for Users with Hearing Loss

Voice recognition technology allows the Breaking Sound Barriers app uses voice recognition technology to subtitle teachers and lecturers in real time.

HP Printers Now Answer to Alexa's Voice Commands

HP says it's Skill Printer will print anything from forms to coloring pages with a simple, "Alexa, ask my printer to…" command.

Visionstate Corp. Announces Final TSXV Approval for Chatbot Acquisition

Visionstate Corp. announced that it has received final TSX Venture Exchange approval for the expedited acquisition of Montreal-based Chatbot Incubator. Pursuant to the terms of the Transaction, Visionstate has purchased 30% of the shares held by Chatbot shareholders in exchange for 4,000,000 common shares of Visionstate at a deemed price of $0.065 per common share, for the consideration of $260,000. 

Evorus Combines AI and Crowd Sourcing for a Smarter Chatbot

Carnegie Mellon University researchers say they "have created a conversational agent that is tough to stump." How? By adding humans into the mix. The chatbot system is called Evorus.