Nuance Mix Brings Voice Control To Any App, Internet Of Things Device

Nuance, the software company behind the Dragon dictation app, has announced a new platform dubbed Nuance Mix, which will allow developers to add language detection and voice control to their own apps, in addition to smart home and Internet of Things (IoT)-connected devices. In terms of our smartphones, Nuance Mix, which is launching today as a beta, could bring voice control to a number of third-party apps, making it available beyond platform-specific tasks like placing a call, searching for directions, or dictating a message.

Nuance Mix is designed to be simple for developers to implement into their apps, with the only main requirement being that they specify the types of commands that users will make, and what the corresponding actions should be. For example, users could open the Twitter or Facebook apps and say something like "I want to post something," or "Update my status," and the app will know what the user is trying to do, regardless of the exact words said.

But where Nuance really imagines Mix taking off is with internet-connected hardware devices, such as those already turning up in smart homes. While most of these devices are already controlled with smartphones, there are times, especially when said products don't have screens or buttons to interact with, when voice commands could make for a better user experience.

Senior director Kenn Harper suggests that a thermostat would be a great fit with speech recognition, seeing as how most of the time that users want to interact with one, they're already in the same room. It's hard to name all of the products Mix could end up being used with, as the possibilities could be endless, especially when taking into account how many are being influenced by the IoT trend.

VIA The Verge

SOURCE Nuance