Siri, Cortana and Google Now are about to get raped
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SoundHound’s new voice search app makes Siri and Cortana look slow
Hound is fast, just not everywhere — and that's a problem
By Josh Lowensohn on June 2, 2015 09:00 am
Nearly a decade ago, SoundHound founder Keyvan Mohajer took an idea to a group of investors. He wanted to make a system that let people talk to computers casually, as if speaking to another human. That was not a new idea of course; 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey had a talkative computer as one of its main characters. But Mohajer believed such a thing was no longer science fiction and could become commonplace. The only problem? It might take 10 years to build it.
Investors were enamored with the idea, but not Mohajer's timeline. They said, "Ten years is a long time, can you show me something that will happen in three years?" he recalls. With that, Midomi was born, a service that would let you hum the tune of a song to identify it. Two years later, in 2009, he launched SoundHound, which did the same thing for music overheard on the radio or in the background of a TV show.
Now, nearly a decade after that pitch to investors, Mohajer's original vision is here in the form of Hound, a voice search app that can handle incredibly complex questions and spit out answers with uncanny speed. Right now, you have to ask those questions inside the Hound app, but the company hopes to get the technology everywhere — even your toaster. That may never happen, but the company's demonstration of Hound — which was fairly scripted in our case — is astonishing enough to make me believe it's a possibility.
Mohajer started with a zinger. "What is the population of capital of the country in which Space Needle is located?" he asked briskly. It's an oddly worded question, but intentionally so, meant to show how well it can extract and process what's being said. Ask it on any other service (even Wolfram Alpha), and you'll get the digital equivalent of a head scratch. But here, a robotic voice instantly replied, "The population of Washington, DC is 601,723." There were two Washingtons there, and it got the right one. In another test, he asked, "How many days are there between the day after tomorrow and three days before the second Thursday of November in 2022?" The app nailed it again.
Hound the app functions and feels almost exactly like Google's Voice Search, but seems much faster at identifying words and delivering answers. In our demo, which contained several dozen scripted questions but also some impromptu ones, the words coming out of Mohajer's mouth popped up on screen nearly as fast as he was saying them, and Hound would pipe back with an answer faster than seemed possible.
/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3746576/Hound_HeroImage.0.jpg)
Mohajer says the speed comes from SoundHound combining two technologies that are typically separated on competing services. Hound is doing both voice recognition and natural voice understanding in a single engine, whereas rival services break them up into separate steps, first transcribing your question, then extrapolating what you were asking about. That said, our test also took place over Wi-Fi, and in a perfectly quiet room, making it impossible to tell whether Hound maintains these speeds in the real world.
Unlike Siri or Cortana, Hound doesn't have a personality. Instead, it's a sass-free robotic voice. One other area where it's different is the number of sources it's pulling from. From the outset, Hound will have about 50 domains, or services it's tying into through APIs; things like currency converters, news sites, flight status information, and navigation. Mohajer says the plan is to ramp that up into the millions. "Siri launched with 10 domains, and three years later it's at about 22 new domains, so it takes a long time," he says.
For example, with Hound's deal with Expedia, you can ask Hound to find you a hotel in Seattle that costs less than $200 a night, that has free Wi-Fi, parking, and a continental breakfast. It's the same information you could get on Expedia's site, of course, but here, there's no need to click on a bunch of filters. There are other simple tools it's linked up to as well, things like a mortgage calculator (from a real estate site Mohajer would not disclose) and a speech-based game of Blackjack where you can place bets with your voice.
For everything that doesn't get picked and assigned to one of Hound's sources, the app defaults to Microsoft's Bing. That means web results, including videos and images, are all shown in an integrated browser. Sometimes that's just fine, but in similar tools like Siri and Cortana, web results are a sign the system couldn't keep up with what you're asking of it. Mohajer contends that by kicking people to web results, nobody ends up feeling disappointed, though I'd argue that if it happens enough you'll just stop using the app entirely and forget about it. I wasn't quite able to push the boundaries of Hound beyond our demo, something users will get a chance to do once the service launches today.
That brings up one of the weaknesses of Hound in its current form: it's not available as a replacement to other voice assistants. Developers will be able to integrate it into their own apps and hardware creations through a development platform called Houndify, something Mohajer believes will be widely adopted.
"Our vision is that everything can be enabled to have this interface, from millions of phones to billions of other types of devices like consumer electronics and cars," Mohajer says. "We can't be the company to build this for every company — we need to enable them to do this for themselves."
But until that happens, most will know Hound for its app, which will be available only as an invitation-only beta on Android to start, followed by iOS where it will exist as a stand-alone app. That's a lot like how Siri was a third-party app before Apple bought it, and how Google still is on iOS. It also means that you need to have a very specific reason to use Hound over those built-in options on both platforms.
It's worth noting that Hound is arriving at a time when Google and Apple are stepping up efforts to add context to the things people are looking at on their phones, often using voice interfaces, which could almost entirely remove the usefulness of Hound for simple searches. Last week, Google unveiled Now on Tap as part of its upcoming Android M release, a feature that brings its Now service inside of every app and gives the company an incredible amount of context for why you're looking for something. It hopes it will be good enough that you never even need to leave an app to pull up something you might search for. Apple is also rumored to be working on a feature called Proactive that attempts to put relevant apps and information in front of users without them having to search for it in the first place.
That hurdle of having to find and launch Hound could change if app developers build the voice search into their apps, or if SoundHound and its technology get snapped up by one of these larger players. In the meantime, Mohajer believes that Hound's performance and experience will be enough for people to go that extra step of launching it before they ask, what they've been doing with the company's audio recognition apps for years.
"Just because it's easier to get to something is not enough for me to choose it. I don't use Siri for food, I use Yelp, even though Siri uses Yelp data, because they have a better experience. I use Google Maps on iOS instead of Apple Maps, even though Apple Maps is more integrated," he says. "I think if you deliver something that is substantially better, people will use it."
http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/2/8701489/soundhound-hound-search-app-ios-android
"
SoundHound’s new voice search app makes Siri and Cortana look slow
Hound is fast, just not everywhere — and that's a problem
By Josh Lowensohn on June 2, 2015 09:00 am
Nearly a decade ago, SoundHound founder Keyvan Mohajer took an idea to a group of investors. He wanted to make a system that let people talk to computers casually, as if speaking to another human. That was not a new idea of course; 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey had a talkative computer as one of its main characters. But Mohajer believed such a thing was no longer science fiction and could become commonplace. The only problem? It might take 10 years to build it.
Investors were enamored with the idea, but not Mohajer's timeline. They said, "Ten years is a long time, can you show me something that will happen in three years?" he recalls. With that, Midomi was born, a service that would let you hum the tune of a song to identify it. Two years later, in 2009, he launched SoundHound, which did the same thing for music overheard on the radio or in the background of a TV show.
Now, nearly a decade after that pitch to investors, Mohajer's original vision is here in the form of Hound, a voice search app that can handle incredibly complex questions and spit out answers with uncanny speed. Right now, you have to ask those questions inside the Hound app, but the company hopes to get the technology everywhere — even your toaster. That may never happen, but the company's demonstration of Hound — which was fairly scripted in our case — is astonishing enough to make me believe it's a possibility.
Mohajer started with a zinger. "What is the population of capital of the country in which Space Needle is located?" he asked briskly. It's an oddly worded question, but intentionally so, meant to show how well it can extract and process what's being said. Ask it on any other service (even Wolfram Alpha), and you'll get the digital equivalent of a head scratch. But here, a robotic voice instantly replied, "The population of Washington, DC is 601,723." There were two Washingtons there, and it got the right one. In another test, he asked, "How many days are there between the day after tomorrow and three days before the second Thursday of November in 2022?" The app nailed it again.
Hound the app functions and feels almost exactly like Google's Voice Search, but seems much faster at identifying words and delivering answers. In our demo, which contained several dozen scripted questions but also some impromptu ones, the words coming out of Mohajer's mouth popped up on screen nearly as fast as he was saying them, and Hound would pipe back with an answer faster than seemed possible.
Mohajer says the speed comes from SoundHound combining two technologies that are typically separated on competing services. Hound is doing both voice recognition and natural voice understanding in a single engine, whereas rival services break them up into separate steps, first transcribing your question, then extrapolating what you were asking about. That said, our test also took place over Wi-Fi, and in a perfectly quiet room, making it impossible to tell whether Hound maintains these speeds in the real world.
Unlike Siri or Cortana, Hound doesn't have a personality. Instead, it's a sass-free robotic voice. One other area where it's different is the number of sources it's pulling from. From the outset, Hound will have about 50 domains, or services it's tying into through APIs; things like currency converters, news sites, flight status information, and navigation. Mohajer says the plan is to ramp that up into the millions. "Siri launched with 10 domains, and three years later it's at about 22 new domains, so it takes a long time," he says.
For example, with Hound's deal with Expedia, you can ask Hound to find you a hotel in Seattle that costs less than $200 a night, that has free Wi-Fi, parking, and a continental breakfast. It's the same information you could get on Expedia's site, of course, but here, there's no need to click on a bunch of filters. There are other simple tools it's linked up to as well, things like a mortgage calculator (from a real estate site Mohajer would not disclose) and a speech-based game of Blackjack where you can place bets with your voice.
For everything that doesn't get picked and assigned to one of Hound's sources, the app defaults to Microsoft's Bing. That means web results, including videos and images, are all shown in an integrated browser. Sometimes that's just fine, but in similar tools like Siri and Cortana, web results are a sign the system couldn't keep up with what you're asking of it. Mohajer contends that by kicking people to web results, nobody ends up feeling disappointed, though I'd argue that if it happens enough you'll just stop using the app entirely and forget about it. I wasn't quite able to push the boundaries of Hound beyond our demo, something users will get a chance to do once the service launches today.
That brings up one of the weaknesses of Hound in its current form: it's not available as a replacement to other voice assistants. Developers will be able to integrate it into their own apps and hardware creations through a development platform called Houndify, something Mohajer believes will be widely adopted.
"Our vision is that everything can be enabled to have this interface, from millions of phones to billions of other types of devices like consumer electronics and cars," Mohajer says. "We can't be the company to build this for every company — we need to enable them to do this for themselves."
But until that happens, most will know Hound for its app, which will be available only as an invitation-only beta on Android to start, followed by iOS where it will exist as a stand-alone app. That's a lot like how Siri was a third-party app before Apple bought it, and how Google still is on iOS. It also means that you need to have a very specific reason to use Hound over those built-in options on both platforms.
It's worth noting that Hound is arriving at a time when Google and Apple are stepping up efforts to add context to the things people are looking at on their phones, often using voice interfaces, which could almost entirely remove the usefulness of Hound for simple searches. Last week, Google unveiled Now on Tap as part of its upcoming Android M release, a feature that brings its Now service inside of every app and gives the company an incredible amount of context for why you're looking for something. It hopes it will be good enough that you never even need to leave an app to pull up something you might search for. Apple is also rumored to be working on a feature called Proactive that attempts to put relevant apps and information in front of users without them having to search for it in the first place.
That hurdle of having to find and launch Hound could change if app developers build the voice search into their apps, or if SoundHound and its technology get snapped up by one of these larger players. In the meantime, Mohajer believes that Hound's performance and experience will be enough for people to go that extra step of launching it before they ask, what they've been doing with the company's audio recognition apps for years.
"Just because it's easier to get to something is not enough for me to choose it. I don't use Siri for food, I use Yelp, even though Siri uses Yelp data, because they have a better experience. I use Google Maps on iOS instead of Apple Maps, even though Apple Maps is more integrated," he says. "I think if you deliver something that is substantially better, people will use it."
http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/2/8701489/soundhound-hound-search-app-ios-android
"
simple if then statements my friend.How would they know about my dad's car? I guess they looked through my email for the credit card bill but still even that how the fukk would they go thru ya mail and then say oh this nikka gotta pay his bill lemme tell him?? Shuts insane. The car thing though is impossible tho Idk how they would figure it out.
One thing they fail at though. They think my gym is my jobthey be like oh there's 5 mins of traffic leave for work early
IF app sees email with credit card companies named (capital one, american express, etc.) see if there is a "DUE DATE" within the email, If So, THEN present due date to USER.
^^This is programming in its basic form.
while it collects data on your actual whereabouts(GPS). IF phone is moving at a fast rate of speed by doing the math showing gps moving from point A to point B 30mph or above. phone knows you're in a car. If The phone stops moving. it assumes You're parked and it holds your position (saved). Then it knows via programming "IF phone hasnt moved much from said spot remember where original spot where phone stopped moving = PARKED CAR POSITION.
this is how they program these things. and i have never programmed a phone app. but i get the logic behind it.
YaBoyPiff
HELLO I LOST MY OTHER PASSWORD :O
Well since you got all the answers, how did it know where the car was parked if I WASNT EVEN IN IT
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Yesssss@ 1:00
EDIT: This is only available on Android.
were you ever in the car? if so. like i said above. it notice your gps signal stopped moving. so it assumed you were parked after it stopped moving for a set amt of time. it has to be longer then a minute or so cause you could just be at a stop light. so i'll say maybe they say if said person is stopped for more than 15 mins(long enough to park some where and walk a nice distance..far enough to forget where you just parked). then it will save that spot as a parked car spot.
now if you were never in that car. then the only way it would know this is if your google email is linked to that person's cell phone or tablet that was in that car. for example. my wife's galaxy tablet is linked to be gmail account. cause at that time she didnt have a gmail. so i didnt feel like spending time setting up one. so i used mine. so even though she's using it. it can tell her where i am at times or tell her my from work to home route. because i have my actual phone. it thinks its talking to me since i'm the head user on the account. and like someone above told you. you are sharing your info and you dont know it because you're not reading the disclaimers. you can turn that stuff off. i dont turn on the cards for that very reason. but truth be told. does it really matter? NO. these fools no where i am anyway. because my GPS is on. you can turn it off where it wont tract it to some app. but your phone is always tracking your GPS location. dont think otherwise. unless you're going to open your phone up and turn it off manually.
but most of these apps. even apps that you would think should never need your location. are asking for it. the moment you download an app it requests certain permissions. you or someone using another device thats linked to your account. is agreeing to those permissions being used without paying attention to exactly what they are asking for.
Why does a calculator need to know my location? well perhaps the app creator wants to know how many people in a set location uses that app. DATA is crucial when trying to create better apps and hit people with better updates. when your original apps update. the request permissions that you've turned off. some apps wont allow you to update or download them to begin with without certain permissions being granted. more or less forcing you to give away some of your privacy in exchange for use of their app.
i now know where you go everyday. i know your habits. you use your ralph's/kroger clubs card. i know what you eat(i know your diet). you use your credit card at Wendy's and again with ya girl at the sushi spot. I noticed that you used your credit card during lunch hours between 11am and 2 pm. i noticed your meal cost $42.50. wait a second. you didnt eat lunch with your wife. she's at work. So unless you paid with your card for another co-worker and they gave you cash back. you out chea dippin on ya girl/wife with another broad.
YEP. we know everything about you now. thanks to you and that da..n smartphone. credit cards, club cards, etc. electronic devices/payments/wifi and gps = bye bye privacy. for all the great stuff we get in return we give away our privacy.
i'm a health tracker app. i noticed that you use to run/job/walk at the same place. but you havent used the app in a while. and you havent been around that area in a while. you end up walking by that area with your phone on. your health app might have a pop up"wanna start a run or walk today"
why did it ask you that at that moment? because its tracking your location it knows you are back where you use to work out.
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YaBoyPiff
HELLO I LOST MY OTHER PASSWORD :O
No I was not in the car I was on the front steps . my dad was in the car and he got a iPhone none of my shyt on his phone. So yea idk how this was possible
it was likely still there from the last time you got out the car
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/6015842?hl=en
YaBoyPiff
HELLO I LOST MY OTHER PASSWORD :O
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You saying it auto assigns names for spots you go to? That wouldn't make any sense
On Windows phone, Cortana will just ask you "Do you know this location" then its up to you to save it and name it or say you don't know it.
Once you stay still for a short period of time, all phones will do a GPS blip for location services unless you turn that off
Same way it knows where your job is
if his phone is not connected to your account, and there's nothing in the car connected to your account. it didnt do what you said it did. or you're leaving out some crucial info. it cant drag someone elses car thats not being tracked by it. doesnt make logical sense. So something happened that you dont remember or didnt notice or it didnt track it like you think it did.
if you turn on those cards or it could've happened before the cards update awhile back. like i said. for some odd reason. not my doing it. it will send me traffic info to my job thru google chrome(which i'm signed in on). it only sends that traffic info around the time i leave work everyday. and it shows me directions from my job to my house. now i have never put my home address in there and said it was my house. it assumed this because i always pull up traffic and directions from my house. so it did the math and was like, this is this guys house. and this is this guys job/work. but i never explicitly requested this back before the google cards came out. so its possible for it to take your info and make something out of it even without you making a special request.
YaBoyPiff
HELLO I LOST MY OTHER PASSWORD :O
Yea I'm leaving some some info. Like me going raw in my girl. What does that have to do with what I'm telling u. I wasn't in the car I'm outside and I look at my phone and it says parking location to where the car was. I drove in the car before. But not that day. So I'm how they would know that