We've long dreamed of being able to talk to our computers and have them respond. I suppose it is based on some deep need that we have to have an assistant or a Girl Friday or Jeeves the Butler or whatever - someone who is totally loyal and always willing to help with any request. The trouble with having a person of course, is that they tend to actually be people: they cost money and we end up feeling bad about just barking orders at them all the time. So, a computer surrogate that we can talk to is just perfect.
Of course, the big news here is that Apple released its latest iPhone with the Siri software built right into the interface. It's getting a lot of attention, but Google has had a tool called Voice Search for a while now that provides many of the same functions. It isn't quite as well integrated into the operating system, but it's the same idea..... Read more.
