As reported by the CBC, Beijing is trying to cut down on public shows of bad English.
That's sad - it's the only form of bastardized English that I tend to like. :(
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Saturday, April 7, 2007
1-800-GOOG-411
http://labs.google.com/goog411/
I'd heard back in October that Google was getting into the Free-411 market, which, in turn, drove, or at least expedited, AOL's foray into that market (1-800-AOL-1234 in the US, 1-800-679-0892 in Canada and press * at the first menu), but hadn't heard a word regarding it since. Until I stumbled upon this article from the VUIDS Yahoo group.
I've played with Google Local Search a bit for work - you do a Google Maps search for a business in a specific location, and along with the other Google Maps features, there's a "Call" hyperlink. Click, it then asks you for your phone number, calls it, and once you pick up, it'll call the business (stay tuned for something very similar brought to you by the letters A, O and L). The Web version is ok for the "wow" factor (Look ma, I can make my phone ring!), but I think if I'm online looking to call a business, I'd rather find their phone number then call them directly.
Now, as one who'd rather go online than to call 411 to find a number, I'm not in the target audience for the voice search either, but I can see where it would come in handy. If I were in an area with no other option than to use 411, I'd also not likely be in a place with a pen and paper handy, and I might also have limited coinage for a pay phone, so letting me call it from getting the listing would be a good thing. Similar to to "send to phone" option I just found on Google Maps. Give me the information I want, let me act on it immediately and without extra effort if possible, or if not, let me save it in a persistent form with minimal effort.
I just called it. Its flow is a bit more smooth than others I've used (see above), and my results match what I got from the same query online. I can't fault them for using "press or say" because in a directed dialogue, there's little else you can do (other than hide the fact that it's a 'press or say' dialogue), although, I don't see much value in using the speech commands "number 1", "number 2", etc, but it might be more easily navigated than having to go "previous" "next" "skip" "that one!". I'm not going to criticize any automated speech recognition search system for speech recognition errors, since my experience calling human operators generally is a lot worse than the automated ones I've used. I'll likely have more comments in this UI once I've had the chance to try it more.
Now, to show some insight into the choices Google made. 1) limited search such as 411 is a heck of a lot easier than an unlimited search, so even when Google masters this domain, don't hold your breath for TUI-based Web searches. 2) in the 411 world, iirc, from easiest to most difficult are 1) government, 2) business, 3) personal. Google chose the 2nd easiest (or second most difficult, depending on your viewpoint), while steering far away from the hardest. Likely a smart move on their part - makes them look like they've mastered voice 411, while their competitors show lesser results while tackling the harder realm.
If you're going to compare apples to apples, I'd feel most comfortable comparing this to TellMe's Business Search. If you're going to compare AOL's version, put it up against 1-800-FREE-411. Either way, the gauntlet has been thrown. It should be interesting. :)
I'd heard back in October that Google was getting into the Free-411 market, which, in turn, drove, or at least expedited, AOL's foray into that market (1-800-AOL-1234 in the US, 1-800-679-0892 in Canada and press * at the first menu), but hadn't heard a word regarding it since. Until I stumbled upon this article from the VUIDS Yahoo group.
I've played with Google Local Search a bit for work - you do a Google Maps search for a business in a specific location, and along with the other Google Maps features, there's a "Call" hyperlink. Click, it then asks you for your phone number, calls it, and once you pick up, it'll call the business (stay tuned for something very similar brought to you by the letters A, O and L). The Web version is ok for the "wow" factor (Look ma, I can make my phone ring!), but I think if I'm online looking to call a business, I'd rather find their phone number then call them directly.
Now, as one who'd rather go online than to call 411 to find a number, I'm not in the target audience for the voice search either, but I can see where it would come in handy. If I were in an area with no other option than to use 411, I'd also not likely be in a place with a pen and paper handy, and I might also have limited coinage for a pay phone, so letting me call it from getting the listing would be a good thing. Similar to to "send to phone" option I just found on Google Maps. Give me the information I want, let me act on it immediately and without extra effort if possible, or if not, let me save it in a persistent form with minimal effort.
I just called it. Its flow is a bit more smooth than others I've used (see above), and my results match what I got from the same query online. I can't fault them for using "press or say" because in a directed dialogue, there's little else you can do (other than hide the fact that it's a 'press or say' dialogue), although, I don't see much value in using the speech commands "number 1", "number 2", etc, but it might be more easily navigated than having to go "previous" "next" "skip" "that one!". I'm not going to criticize any automated speech recognition search system for speech recognition errors, since my experience calling human operators generally is a lot worse than the automated ones I've used. I'll likely have more comments in this UI once I've had the chance to try it more.
Now, to show some insight into the choices Google made. 1) limited search such as 411 is a heck of a lot easier than an unlimited search, so even when Google masters this domain, don't hold your breath for TUI-based Web searches. 2) in the 411 world, iirc, from easiest to most difficult are 1) government, 2) business, 3) personal. Google chose the 2nd easiest (or second most difficult, depending on your viewpoint), while steering far away from the hardest. Likely a smart move on their part - makes them look like they've mastered voice 411, while their competitors show lesser results while tackling the harder realm.
If you're going to compare apples to apples, I'd feel most comfortable comparing this to TellMe's Business Search. If you're going to compare AOL's version, put it up against 1-800-FREE-411. Either way, the gauntlet has been thrown. It should be interesting. :)
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