Microsoft wants to take speech recognition to the next level with TellMe

Despite its many advancements, speech recognition is still a hit and miss affair. The technology has come a long way, but its still not practical because of its inherent limitations — only works in a quiet-ish environment, limited language support, not conversational.

While Apple is looking to bring speech recognition in a big way in its upcoming iOS 5 release, we’re still a long way away from being able to talk to our devices like how Michael Knight talks to KITT or how Luke Skywalker talks to C3PO, but if this TellMe technology that Microsoft is working on is anything to go by, it won’t be long until we actually can — albeit in English and with an American accent.

Microsoft’s TellMe speech recognition goes beyond current technologies as is seeks to develop a technology that not only understands what you’re saying but also knows you. TellMe speech recognition knows your intent, your social and business connections, your likes and dislikes, your privacy preferences, and the things that define the context that’s important to you.

The result, Microsoft hopes, will be a speech recognition service that helps you accomplish everyday tasks in a more natural and conversational manner. In addition to that, because TellMe is a cloud-based service, you will be able to pick-up your conversation with your device across multiple devices enabling you to pick up where you left off, regardless of what device you may be using.

It’s a cool concept but at this point in time, it is still just a concept.

[via]