This sounds a problem from the side of user's privacy:
"The idea is to use the existing PC microphone to listen to whatever is heard in the background, be it music, your phone going off or the TV turned down. The PC then identifies it, using fingerprinting, and then shows you relevant content..."
More at The Register; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/03/google_eavesdropping_software/ |
This is old and just an experiment. |
Peter Novig (head of research), said it will appear in Google software "sonner rather than later" |
Maybe, but they weren't able to continue providing closed captions from TV shows. This is more complicated than that.
http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2006/06/interactive-tv-conference-and-best.html |
I wonder how many ordinary surfers are aware that the Flash plugin within their browsers has the means to access (and transmit information from) their microphones and webcams? And that a third-party Flash advert network could probably make hay with this idea more easily even than Google (what with having fewer scruples, and watchdogs, and all)? |
In terms of searching...
Several services (mostly fee-based) provide searchable content either via closed captioning or speech to text.
1) TVEyes http://www.tveyes.com All major U.S. news nets and many local stations. Some UK too. Fee-based, real time alerts. Transcripts. They also offer a FREE service using open web video from AP, Reuters, MSNBC. No transcripts however.
TVEyes also uses some speech to text for Podscope.com
2) Critical Mention http://www.criticalmention.com
3) ShadowTV http://www.shadowtv.com
4) Also, a new service starting soon named RedLasso. http://www.redlasso.com/
Finally, another company that's been in this space for many years is Nexidia. http://nexidia.com/ What makes them different is that they don't use captions nor speech to text in the traditional manner. They break spoken language down into phonetic sounds (phoneme) for more accurate and faster indexing. About 400 phonemes in all spoken languages. About 40 per language on avergage. Often used by call centers but expanding into other areas. See: http://nexidia.com/technology/technology_info.html
5) Blinkx and Podzinger also use speech to text. |
maybe related to Google's search by voice, a GLab paper? http://labs.google.com/papers/webbyvoice.html |