The Speculist

We all know that technology is advancing day-by-day, but every now and then it catches us by surprise. My brother Daniel bought the newest Razor cell phone last week and was in the process of navigating through the menus for the first time when he thought out loud:

Daniel: "Oh, I need to call Jen."

Razor: "Did you say 'Call Jen?' "

Daniel: "Err…Yeah."

Razor: "Calling Jen."

And then the Razor called his wife.

It turns out that in playing with the phone Daniel had stumbled on the right button presses for the phone to accept voice commands. What blew Daniel away about this is that there was no voice training at all. He wasn't holding it up to his mouth. The first time Dan spoke to the phone it understood what he was saying and responded (within a limited range of possibilities) appropriately. He didn't have to reprogram in Jen's phone number. That data was on the SIM card he pulled from the last phone. More importantly he didn't have to tell the phone what the name "Jen" would sound like when spoken. It knew and accessed the number and called.

This is pretty smart…and potentially useful. I imagine other devices could be similarly equipped:

Sleepy Dude: "Man I could go for a cup of coffee."

Mr. Coffee: "Did you say 'cup of coffee'?"

Technology like this will likely remain an optional feature. It could get pretty old living in a house where the appliances constantly interrupted to ask what you said.

But it's still nifty that they could.