Who needs Apple's Siri? We have Ziggy for Windows Phone. [Video]

If there was an over-hyped applied science in tardily 2022 it was maybe Apple tree's Siri,their vocalization recognition/data application for the iPhone 4s. Now we'll acknowledge that Siri is quite a potent piece of tech ane that we wish Windows Phone had congenital-in in addition to our Bing Voice service, just the marketing machine behind Siri was a tad overwhelming. And so again, there'due south no denying facts: Bing Voice while pragmatic for sure tasks is notwithstanding behind Apple tree's Siri in some means.

All the same, developer Shai Leib has given us Windows Phone users an option: Ask Ziggy . The new app is a complimentary, advertising-free and equally far equally we tin tell, completely unique. Nosotros spoke with Leib most his project and how it works:

"Inquire Ziggy uses Oral communication Recognition to translate human speech into transcribed text, which is displayed in a speech bubble. The transcribed text is analyzed for patterns to detect commands or full general queries. Commands are interpreted and routed to routine phone tasks such as emailing, texting, calling, social network updates, and getting directions.

When a general question is asked, a mixture of mash up technologies and spider web scraping is employed to search the spider web for relevant responses. Blueprint matching is used to summarize a direct respond from a web page. Several passes may be required to find a concise answer. A direct answer is then spoken out loud, and displayed in a spoken language bubble. When a direct answer cannot be summarized the user is prompted by speech to click on their search bubble to see web search results based on their spoken query."

Ask Ziggy

That's some pretty impressive work for a single programmer if y'all inquire the states. The actual voice-recognition software is based on Nuance just the data fetching and matching are all his doing. And it works. That's i matter we want to stress hither, we didn't notice this app gimmicky at all but instead quite useful for mathematical questions, random trivia, posting to our Twitter/Facebook/Live, getting directions, flight status and more. Having the phone read back to you the answer in a make clean, minimalist setting makes it feel smart. Heck, it fifty-fifty got our Monty Python question right (see YouTube video).

The version you lot see in the video is heading to the Marketplace as we speak just yous can catch the slightly older version right now. Give it a go--it's free, useful and really quite an extraordinary app. Leib also has a lot of plans to farther refine and enhance the experience including expanded speech grammar, multi-language support and fifty-fifty language translations. Check out the Inquire Ziggy website here for more info.

QR: Ask Ziggy

New report reveals Microsoft's future AR strategy; HoloLens 3 is dead

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New study reveals Microsoft'due south hereafter AR strategy; HoloLens three is expressionless

Business Insider has today published a follow-upwards study with more details about Microsoft's canceled HoloLens 3 augmented reality headset. The partnership with Samsung is said to include a headset with a set up of screens inside, powered by a Samsung phone in your pocket.

Keeping it affordable

Review: Surface Laptop SE is the new standard for K-8 Windows PCs

Starting at just $250, Microsoft's first foray into affordable laptops for the didactics market is a winner. With a gorgeous design, splendid thermals, and a fantastic typing experience, Microsoft would do right to sell this directly to consumers also. Permit'due south simply hope Intel can make a better CPU.