Back in my Home Automation and Theatre days, I played with a very cool voice recognition program called HAL 2000 here at the house. With “Ellie” (My name for the virtual assistant) I could turn on and off lights, control the security system, HVAC and home theatre. Although “Ellie” has been long gone, I still have all the control equipment in place and control the house on a pre-programmed schedule. Even the Christmas lights I’ll be putting out in a few weeks run on a schedule year round. All I have to do is plug them in.

Google is expected to release a free application today for the iPhone that lets you search for information, directions, or virtually anything else by speaking into the handset, eliminating need for the keyboard entirely. This new voice recognition takes your spoken words and passes them over the Internet to one of Google’s servers. They’re then interpreted by artificial intelligence, translated into a traditional data query, and the results are bounced back to your phone in a matter of seconds if you’re on a fast connection.

Google made the decision to launch this new App on the iPhone. They had the choice of launching on the iPhone or their own Android device, yet they decided go with the iPhone and launch in the App Store. Surely pushing out the app for Android would have boosted Android G1 sales, but they opted for what is best for the user, for now.

Google was under the impression that the application would be live on the App Store on Friday (obviously, since they pushed all significant press attention to it). Sometime Friday they found out Apple wouldn’t be pushing it, despite the fact that Google submitted it for review earlier in the week and got a thumbs up for Friday. One source says they’ve had little direct contact with Apple during the review, instead getting their updates via the standard iPhone developer tool, which has said “in review” for the last few days.

So with any luck today, you should be able to download this free App and then simply place the phone to your ear and ask virtually any question, like “Where’s the nearest Starbucks?” or “What were the REAL travel sales for YTB?” The search results will be displayed in just seconds hands free. And because it has GPS the iPhone will at times include local information, taking advantage of iPhone features that let it determine its location.

Could search results for flights, hotel, or a cruise via voice be that far behind?

Hummmm?

Here’s a cool video on the new application, and I’m sure technology geeks like me will be chomping at the bit to get this downloaded and start using it.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

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So you know what a technology geek I am. I was surfing yesterday and this story made me stop and think “I’ve got to get me one of these”.

Can you imagine? Your phone as your new travel guide?!

If you think this is one of those futuristic type phones that you’d only see on in some Si-Fi television show, or movie, think again because the T-Mobile G1 is available and makes the iPhone look outdated. This new phone will not only tell you that your looking at the Roman Coliseum, but when you turn around 180 degrees and point the phone in the other direction, it will tell you that your now looking at Columna Trajano. (Trojan’s Colum) No joke, the G1 not only knows where you are, but which way you’re facing.

Here’s the really cool part. Not only did the phone guide you through Roman Coliseum, but if you wanted to learn more about this new Colum you’re looking at, it will give you a rundown of what it’s all about via Wikipedia.

Wikitude is the culmination of five years’ work for its Austrian designer, Philipp Breuss, who calls the system “augmented reality”. It’s built to run on Google’s new Android operating system for mobiles - and the first phone to have that is the just-released T-Mobile G1, which uses GPS and triangulation to know exactly where it is and which way it’s facing.

Oh, and ladies, there’s a very cool “ShopSavvy” feature on this phone as well to ensure you get the absolute best price on the next pair of shoes you buy. And guys, don’t think you’re out of the loop on this either, you can use this site to find the absolute best price on the G1. (I found everything, including accessories on Amazon)

While I would agree that not everyone would want to be this independent when traveling, this technology is certainly just the ticket for an early adopter like myself. Like the days of vinyl records, I can see maps, tour guides, and yes travel agents being a thing of the past when it comes to traveling in the future. Many of the tour companies I work with have independent Tours that this new technology would be perfect for.

Speaking of technology.

I was able to dive into some of the PHP and CSS files here and fixed some errors and glitches. You’ll notice the dark green or blue boxes in the comments section have been changed so you can now read them. With so many files and code to look through it took some time, but I found it and finally got it changed.

Also in the realm of comments, we have our first subscriber who has been banned from the blog. Both the name and the IP address have been locked out. I’m just not going to waist my time with it any longer. You don’t see me anywhere but here these days, and people who tune in here are looking for enlightenment, not a bunch of spin and foul language.

You’ll also see new feature called “snap shots”. I added it because I think it’s helpful, but some of you might find it annoying. Let me know which way you lean and I’ll either keep it or disable it depending on you’re feedback.

And last but not least, just to show you what a complete technology geek I am, you may notice a new little Icon in your URL line and bookmarks. How a little 16×16 pixel icon gets me jazzed I really couldn’t say, but I think it’s cool and it only took me about 15 minutes to create and implement yesterday afternoon while watching football.

There is more to come, and like I told you last week, one of the reasons I love this new format is because of the way I can customize and expand it. It will always be a work in progress.

In the meantime, I’m going to go check out this new G1 at a local store and may see if I can take it for a spin.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With