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If you want to map a locale or score some directions but want to avoid driving into a pole, you can now use your pipes . Google Maps now recognizes Search by Voice on Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones. Google introduced Search by Voice in 2008 and has been rolling that functionality out into different parts of the Googlesphere since. Now Google Maps 4.1 comes with voice search. Sponsor The categories of search that Maps will now recognize vocally includes the full spectrum of search fields already enabled for mobile. business name business category city, state ZIP code postal address intersection, city, state airport code latitude longitude Hands-free it is not, however. To start the search you still need to open Google Maps and hit "call" prior to making your search. The install is available on qualifying phones at m.google.com/maps . An interesting aspect of the language settings the ability to select not just your language but, if it's English, the accent you use. I wonder if this functionality will be available to Spanish-speakers or whether the different accents within Yue Chinese will eventually be recognized. Discuss
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Google Mobile Announces Search by Voice for Maps
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Thanks to voice-controlled systems like Ford's Sync , drivers don't have to take their eyes off the road if they want to place a call or switch to the next track on their playlists. Today, Ford announced the next step in the company's roadmap to connect mobile phones and cars. With Sync AppLink, Ford is introducing a new platform that allows developers to offer voice controls for their mobile apps on Sync-enabled cars. At first, AppLink will only work with Android and BlackBerry devices, but the company plans to offer support for Apple's iPhone OS and other smartphone platforms next year. Sponsor The first Sync-enabled applications, which will be available later this year, are Pandora , Stitcher , and Orangatame's OpenBreak Twitter app. Even though Sync is based on the Microsoft Auto platform, Ford did not announce that it plans to support the upcoming Windows Phone operating system. Drivers will be able to control AppLink-enabled mobile apps through voice commands that will be routed through the Sync system, as well as from buttons on the steering wheel. The first car to feature this new service will be the 2011 Ford Fiesta . Ford plans to offer AppLink on all Sync-equipped cars next year. Existing Sync users will be able to update their car's software at a later point as well. Same Apps - Just Controlled by SYNC From the user's perspective, installing a Sync-enabled app is no different from installing a regular app on their mobile phones. The only difference is that the car will notice when you start a Sync-enabled app and allow you to control the app's function with your voice. This allows Ford to plug right into the existing developer ecosystems and distribution channels for all of these platforms and developers only have to make relatively minor updates to make their apps compatible with Sync. It's important to stress that these applications are running on the user's phone and not on the car's built-in Sync hardware. Sync only passes the voice commands on to the application but doesn't interact with the app beyond this. In Ford's parlance, these are "brought-in" apps, as opposed to "built-in" apps (like Ford's Vehicle Health Report and 911 Assist) or "beamed-in" cloud-based apps that send traffic information and turn-by-turn directions to the car. Sync AppLink for Developers Ford is currently working with a small group of trusted partners and plans to open up the Sync API and software development kit to a broader selection of developers later this year. Ford also announced the launch of a Sync developer community that will give developers a pathway to partner with Ford on Sync-enabled applications. Image credit: Flickr user Jim Trottier Discuss
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Ford Sync Will Soon Let You Control Your Mobile Apps by Voice
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One of my favorite blogs to peruse now and then for amazing advice on web design is Webdesigner Depot which produces excellent in depth guides for various design related issues. Monday they produced an excellent in depth post that provides a step-by-step breakdown of best practices for creating a screen-cast for a Web page , a feature many startups like to include on their homepage to familiarize new visitors with their product. Sponsor This article focuses on the creation of live screen capture videos of someone demoing the website, but I think a lot of this same methodology can go into creating any sort of introductory video a company uses to explain their site. The first step, as with any project, is to plan, and the first questions you need to ask yourself before you even start to storyboard include "What do we want to accomplish with this video?" and "How detailed do we want to get?" Once you figure out the content, length, tone, and medium of your video, then move on to storyboarding. Storyboarding is an important step in creative processes such as these because it is much easier to visualize the end product before putting any real technical effort in. Filmmakers don't just storyboard as a way to outline their plot, they use it to do early edits to the film before wasting any time shooting stuff that will never make it past the cutting room. By getting a storyboard of your production down, you may realize it's too long, too boring or not informative enough; you can determine these flaws by showing the storyboard to anyone unfamiliar with your product and then use their feedback to make alterations. "The more detail in your storyboards, the easier the editing stage will be," writes Stu Green, author of the post on Webdesigner Depot. "Your storyboard will help you stay organized throughout the whole process, and if you ever get lost while producing the video, the storyboard will get you back on track." If you plan on doing a straight screen-capture demo, don't just wing it; make sure you script out what you're going to say as you demo the site. Additionally, spend a few extra bucks on a nice microphone to record your voice - quality audio goes a long way in video production. Of course there are options that don't include a voice-over, but as Green points out, having one provides that human aspect to your video that will better connect with viewers. Green provides a healthy list of options for software to record you screen-capture videos with, including Screenium , Jing , CamStudio , iShowU and Captivate . One nice option that I find is overlooked these days is the screen capture abilities included with the standard version of Quicktime on Mac OS X Snow Leopard. For a low budget product, Quicktime can get the job done, but if you wan't something a little more pro looking, one of the aforementioned applications will help also. As the article continues, Green goes over techniques and methods for creating an interesting and captivating video, including things like pacing, editing techniques, and how to promote the video on the website. But if you'd rather not go through all this trouble on your own, there are a number of production houses that specialize in these types of videos. One I always come back to when talking about these types of videos with friends is Common Craft , which you may know for their "In Plain English" series of videos. While they make videos to explain complex ideas "in plain English," the artists at Common Craft also will create custom videos for companies. A visit to the homepage of Dropbox displays a video explainer of the product created by Common Craft in their easy-to-grasp paper cut-out stop-motion style. Other clients of theirs include Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Meetup and Intel. Another production studio that makes similar videos is Epipheo Studios , which I learned about through watching a video explaining how Yelp's review filter works. Epipheo is also responsible for some of the Google Chrome OS and Google Wave videos you've seen, as well as videos for doubleTwist, and Zoho to name a few. Videos such as these can go a long way in helping to rope in new visitors to your site. These can also be useful for an early stage company looking for a quick and unique way to explain their concept to potential investors, though I sometimes think it is better to be able to explain things through words as well. That being said, don't rely too heavily on these videos as pitch material, but rather as a link you can forward to hopefully garner interest in your idea. Be sure to check out the full Webdesigner Depot article by Stu Green , as it is brimming with useful information regarding screen-cast production. Discuss
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How to Create a Killer Explainer Video for Your Startup
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Our top story this week was "Digg's iPhone App Might Be Better Than the Website." The review? The app is a little buggy, lacks features, but is still quite good. Read on for our coverage and analysis. We also continued our exploration of the significant Internet trends of 2010, including Real-Time Web, Mobile Web and Internet of Things. Note: We've refreshed the format for our longest running feature, the Weekly Wrapup. It now focuses more explicitly on the key trends that ReadWriteWeb is tracking in 2010, as well as giving you the highlights from the leading story of the week. Let us know your thoughts on the new format. Sponsor Story of the Week: Digg's iPhone App Digg's iPhone App Might Be Better Than the Website More Twitter Analysis: Influencers Don't Retweet Can You Hear Me Now? Check This Crowd-Sourced Mobile Coverage Map Inventor of the Web Gets Backing to Build Web of Data Twitter Hacker, TechCrunch Document Leaker, Arrested in France (UPDATED) More coverage and analysis from ReadWriteWeb Announcing the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit Join us for the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7 in Mountain View, California as we explore the latest mobile development trends, both the technology and the emerging business applications. Be a part of the discussion on geo-location services , augmented reality , native app vs. browser-based , commerce and marketing , mobile social networking and the Internet of Things. Sponsorship enquiries: sales@readwriteweb.com , Register now for the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit and get early bird rates - only $295. Mobile Web Opera for the iPhone? We Sure Hope So. Google Voice Goes Real-Time (Well, Almost) That's Not a Phone, It's a Tiny Computer: Global Mobile Data Surpasses Voice More Mobile Web coverage Augmented Reality Augmented Reality Among Time's 10 Tech Trends for 2010 Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Our Newest Research Report More Augmented Reality coverage Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Our Newest Research Report We're pleased to announce ReadWriteWeb's latest premium report, Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the Challenges and the Future . This report will help you develop a sophisticated understanding of Augmented Reality (AR), the mobile and Web technology that places data on top of a user's view of the physical world. The research included will help you decrease your AR development time to market by learning from the first wave of early adopters. AR offers a new marketing and product paradigm for a high impact, high value customer experience. More than 1,000 AR campaigns were kicked-off last year and we expect to see many more in 2010. In this report, we profile key AR development companies, their campaigns as well as development lessons learned. For more information or to buy the report, visit here . Real-Time Web My6Sense Releases API: 'Digital Intuition' for the Real-Time Web More Real-Time Web coverage . Don't miss the next wave of opportunity on the Web supported by real-time technology! Get ReadWriteWeb's report, The Real-Time Web and its Future . Check Out The ReadWriteWeb iPhone App We recently launched the official ReadWriteWeb iPhone app . As well as enabling you to read ReadWriteWeb while on the go or lying on the couch, we've made it easy to share ReadWriteWeb posts directly from your iPhone, on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow the RWW team on Twitter, directly from the app. We invite you to download it now from iTunes . ReadWriteStart Our channel ReadWriteStart , sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark , is dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs. What Does Health Care Reform Mean for Startups and VCs? How Entrepreneurs Can Make Better Use of Email The Art of the VC Pitch: A Roundup of Advice from 6 VCs ReadWriteEnterprise Our channel ReadWriteEnterprise is devoted to 'enterprise 2.0' and using social software inside organizations. IBM Partners To Offer $190 Cloud-Connected Netbook For Emerging Markets Microsoft Testing OfficeTalk - Microblogging Service Much Like Twitter ReadWriteCloud Our channel ReadWriteCloud , sponsored by VMware and Intel, is dedicated to Virtualization and Cloud Computing. Canonical Ubuntu One Music Service Goes Into Public Beta Dell: Build Your Own Cloud Enterprise Cloud Control: Q&A with Eucalyptus CTO Dr. Rich Wolski That's a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone. Discuss
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Weekly Wrapup: Digg's App, Who Retweets,Twitter Hacker, And More...
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Google is touting a new feature for their mobile VoIP application, Google Voice : instant notification of new SMS text messages and voicemails. You may have thought an app meant to replace your phone's functions would already be doing that, but in reality, Google Voice delayed notifications for 15 minutes by default. You could change this to 5 minutes or force a refresh manually, but many don't bother tweaking settings or obsessively refreshing just to see if they have new messages. Now that's no longer necessary - messages are delivered almost immediately. Sponsor According to news posted on the Google Voice blog , the new notification feature called "Inbox Synchronization" will notify your Android-powered device (sorry, iPhone users!) of new messages "within seconds" of receiving them. That's not exactly real-time, but close enough - at least now your text messaging friends won't think you're ignoring them. Unfortunately, this feature isn't being switched on automatically - Google Voice users will have to make the adjustments themselves. To enable it, you'll need to open the Google Voice settings on your phone and touch Refresh and notification. Doing so will automatically disable SMS forwarding to your phone, too, so you won't receive duplicate notifications. Also included in the update is a new pop-up bar that appears when you tap a contact's photo. From here, you can quickly respond via voicemail, email or IM. Google Voice: Not There Yet? Despite this obviously welcome advance for the Google Voice app on Android handsets, some are still questioning why the service hasn't been better integrated with the mobile operating system itself. Only days ago, tech guru and founder of O'Reilly Media, Tim O'Reilly, posted on Google's new service, Buzz : "What's with Google Voice as a second-class citizen on Android?" He cites a few examples of improvements that he believes should be made specifically regarding the app's voicemail feature. "There's no link to [voicemail] from the phone app, even if it's installed, so you have to use the old-fashioned voice mail, or else check it in a separate application," he notes. "Phone numbers that are left in messages are not clickable dial links when the message is transcribed." Soon after, dozens of commenters chimed in, some with their own gripes, mentioning issues with transcriptions and making calls. However, more were actually sticking up for the service than complaining. Anecdotally, we've heard stories from Google Voice users who've complained about minor issues that, on their own, don't seem like "make it or break it" bugs. But they can be irksome enough that some of these users aren't making a full transition from phone-based calls, texts and voicemail over to the VoIP application. That may change in the future as Google pushes out more updates and bug fixes...at least we hope it will. In the meantime, at least some people are having fun with the service's issues. For example, over on the Facebook page ****GoogleVoiceSaid , mimicked after the Twitter account with a similar name, users share the worst (and funniest) translations Google Voice has created. An example post: " This is or you need the hello. Yeah for hello hello at." Sounds like voice recognition still has a ways to go. Discuss
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Google Voice Goes Real-Time (Well, Almost)
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