It’s been over a year since Google first previewed Google Voice, a Web-based service that basically enables users to set up a “virtual” phone number that can ring on a number of devices, handle voice mail and notifications, enable users to set up custom greetings and alerts, and much more. Now, Google has officially opened up Google Voice to the public—at least for users in the United States.
Among Google Voice’s top features is voicemail transcription, which enables users to receive a text version of voicemail messages left for them, produced using speech recognition technology. Like all speech recognition it’s not perfect—and sometimes produces amusing results—but is often a lot easier to manage (and cope with) than traditional audio voicemail. Google Voice also supports international calling, shared voicemail, call blocking and call screening, as well as personalized greetings.
Google says more than a million people are already using Google Voice; the company has also extended the service’s reach through a mobile application (although the iPhone version was famously barred by Apple, although a browser-based version is available). Google Voice also sports a number of useful features, such as the ability to port existing numbers into Google Voice, send SMS messages to email, and the ability to forward calls to different numbers based on the calling number.
There’s still no word on when (or if) Google plans to expand Google Voice to international markets.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.