SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Voice Control:
The New TV Remote Steve Jobs’ secret, last project is soon to become reality. ::
BY PETER BURROWS AND CLIFF EDWARDS
B
efore he died last October, Steve Jobs left clues that he was working
on a product that would revolutionize how we interact with our TVs. “It will have the simplest
user interface you could imagine,” he said to his biographer Walter Isaacson, and will eliminate the collections of remote controls that litter living rooms. After years of struggling with the Apple TV set-top box, which was never a huge success, “I fi nally cracked it,” he said. No one knows for sure what “it”
was, and Isaacson isn’t saying. But many tech executives agree that an Apple TV set is likely to make use of humankind’s most natural interface: the voice. Already, millions of Apple customers are talking to their new iPhone 4S, thanks to a program called Siri that can answer vocal questions like, “How’s the weather today?” Whether the rumors are true that Apple is planning to release a TV set by 2013, Siri-like voice recognition is headed for the living room. Microsoft is already there, via its
Xbox 360 game console, and Comcast, Samsung Electronics, LG, and Sharp are working on voice-enabled features for TV sets and related products. Mike Thompson, senior vice-president at Nuance Communications, the
64 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | FEBRUARY 2012
Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Most consumers’ fi rst opportunity
to talk to their TVs — and have them listen — will be through voice- enabled apps for their smartphone or tablet. More than 3 million Comcast subscribers have downloaded an app that turns their smartphone into a remote control for the company’s Xfi nity broadband service. Comcast is looking at adding voice- control features to the app, says spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury. This may well have been the approach Jobs had in mind. According to one former Apple manager who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak publicly, Jobs saw little reason for a stand-alone remote when iPhones and iPads can do the job better. The best approach of all, says
largest supplier of voice recognition technology, says “a wave” of device makers will ship products that understand voice commands next year. It’s easy to see the appeal. Few
would be upset if, instead of fi guring out which one of three remotes to use, viewers could sit on the couch and say, “Record the next episode of Modern Family.” Microsoft has the early lead thanks to Kinect, an Xbox peripheral with cameras and motion sensors for hands- free gaming. After turning on the system by saying “Xbox,” subscribers to Microsoft’s $60-a-year Xbox Live service can search for shows, movies, and games by speaking to
F
design expert Nielsen, is to have no remote at all. Dave Grannan, chief executive offi cer of voice software maker Vlingo, expects many technologies to be integrated eventually. In his dream scenario, he’ll be able to tell his TV to pull up his Netfl ix queue. Using Kinect-style motion control, he could then air- swipe through his library. Thanks to eye-tracking software
in the TV or set-top box, he would simply look at the movie he wants to watch and say, “Play that.”
Used with permission of Bloomberg L.P. Copyright© 2011. All rights reserved.
WHERE’S THE REMOTE?
ew things are more frustrating than scouring your house trying to find the TV remote. The electronics
company Logitech surveyed people around the world to ask where they last found a lost remote. 49 percent found the remote in the couch
29 percent say they have never lost the remote 8 percent found it in the bathroom 8 percent in a dresser drawer 4 percent in the refrigerator or freezer 2 percent in the car or somewhere outside the home
PHOTO COMPOSITE/JOBS/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
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