VoiceBox
Technologies Delivers Eyes-Free Navigation to Mobile Markets
VoiceBox Enhances InfoSpace Find It! With Spoken Turn-by-Turn Directions
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BELLEVUE, Wash.- Oct. 16, 2005 - Continuing its leadership in voice-enabling mobile search applications, VoiceBox® Technologies Inc., the innovator in conversational voice search, today announced that it has successfully implemented eyes-free navigation in the newly upgraded version of InfoSpace Find It!, the first comprehensive location-based application that helps consumers easily and quickly find everything from nearby restaurants and movie times to maps and driving directions. VoiceBox is proud to add text-to-speech (TTS) spoken turn-by-turn directions to the Maps & Directions category of InfoSpace Find It!, delivering on the joint initiative that VoiceBox and InfoSpace Inc. (NASDAQ: INSP) announced earlier this year.
The VoiceBox enhancement to InfoSpace Find It! allows destination addresses to be entered through keypad input, then turn-by-turn directions are spoken aloud to the user. Decreasing driver distraction is today’s resounding theme wherever converging technologies are discussed, and it will be top of mind at this year’s SAE Convergence Conference and Exhibition, being held Oct. 16 through 18 in Detroit, Mich. Mobile market leaders and auto manufacturers both understand that eyes-free navigation is critical in the car, where 60 percent of mobile use happens, and that an optional eyes-free, hands-free user experience is the promise of voice search.
“It’s all about making life easier for the mobile user,” said Tom Freeman, co-founder and senior vice president of VoiceBox Technologies. “Eyes-free navigation through spoken turn-by-turn directions is our first installment toward providing a quick and safe conversational interface to be used in situations when lives depend on keeping hands and eyes free.”
Spoken directions is the initial delivery; giving consumers a total hands-free, eyes-free conversational experience is the end goal. Consistent and highly accurate task completion makes VoiceBox technology particularly appealing and sets it apart from the often-frustrating experience users have with current technologies on the market.
“VoiceBox’s voice technology opens up numerous possibilities for mobile devices,” said Rod Diefendorf, vice president of Online and Local Search for InfoSpace. “Spoken directions enable consumers to interact safely with their mobile device from a variety of eyes-free environments. This is the first step to using voice as an input, allowing consumers easy eyes-free navigation to a broad array of content on their device.”
More information about InfoSpace Find It!'s spoken turn-by-turn directions and other features can be found at www.mobile.infospacefindit.com.
About VoiceBox Technologies
VoiceBox develops Conversational Voice Search™ software, offering a best-in-class voice user experience for searching and accessing digital content that takes full advantage of broadband, wired and wireless networks. VoiceBox founders merge speech expertise with information management know-how, and excel in building successful voice search solutions. Incorporated in 2001, the privately held company’s patent-pending Voice Search processes are applied across telematics and infotainment, music and entertainment, navigation, mobile and VoIP markets. VisitVoiceBox, headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., develops and sells rich conversational language and voice search applications for the automotive, digital home, mobile phone and VOIP markets. More information is available through the Web site found at www.voicebox.com.
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