VoiceCloud transcriptions are made from people!

(Credit: VoiceCloud)
That’s the crux of the argument given by VoiceCloud, which launched into the voice-to-text fray on Tuesday with a speedy, employee-focused transcription service.

Speech-to-text is a huge trend in wireless and Web apps this year that–judging from the numerous services showcased at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas this week–is heating up as an important frontier in cell phone software. You may have read about Spinvox and SimulScribe, and CallWave, but according to VoiceCloud CEO Gerald Marolda, his company’s service gives a faster, more faithful experience than letting software do linguistics.
With VoiceCloud, the voice message is broken into chunks using an in-house, proprietary software, and each audio segment is sent to an available transcriber who types the section and resubmits it. The software takes over from there, recombining the textual fragments and pushing them, quickly, to an e-mail or SMS message–your choice.

“Many companies claim to use voice-to-text software,” said Marolda, when asked why he preferred people power. “But there is no technology in the market that exists right now that gives you the accuracy you need.” Instead, VoiceCloud’s CEO suggests that many competitors outsource editors or have humans double-check software transcriptions. VoiceCloud’s free beta service is available from any cell phone browser and is optimized for the iPhone.

Crowdsourcing gets it right

YouMail’s CEO, Alex Quilici, agrees that voice-to-text as it stands is essentially broken. But instead of employing Homo sapien ears like VoiceCloud, he opts for community cooperation and socially-derived ratings as the sure fix, believing that bipeds can be leveraged to correct transcription mistakes over time.

A new feedback loop joins the readable voice-mail service of YouMail, a neat bit of webware for managing voice mail like e-mail. A pop-up feedback form on the online account offers the opportunity for the masses to send programmers ratings, red flags, and helpful edits that will be integrated back into the transcribing process. Oft-repeated errors will be the first to undergo scrutiny, and responsive users giving sound feedback can help speed the correction process, Quilici added.

In addition to releasing the voting function for transcription quality, YouMail also has rolled out SmartGreetings, a feature that personally greets callers whose names match entries in a database of 4,000 “common” names. Maybe YouMail will get people power to grow that database, too.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9905489-2.html#ixzz1JCLnwUM4

VoiceCloud transcriptions are made from people!
(Credit: VoiceCloud)
That’s the crux of the argument given by VoiceCloud, which launched into the voice-to-text fray on Tuesday with a speedy, employee-focused transcription service.
Speech-to-text is a huge trend in wireless and Web apps this year that–judging from the numerous services showcased at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas this week–is heating up as an important frontier in cell phone software. You may have read about Spinvox and SimulScribe, and CallWave, but according to VoiceCloud CEO Gerald Marolda, his company’s service gives a faster, more faithful experience than letting software do linguistics.
With VoiceCloud, the voice message is broken into chunks using an in-house, proprietary software, and … Read full post & comments

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/crave/#ixzz1JCL4etCd

CTIA is the major U.S. show that covers the cellular and wireless industry, made up of carriers such as Sprint, AT&T and Verizon, equipment suppliers such as Nokia, LG and Samsung, and components companies such as Qualcomm and TI.

What was new? More phones, many emulating the large screen/no keyboard form factor of the iPhone. There was new talk about how the carriers are opening up their networks so new devices can work on them without requiring long and costly approvals. These, of course, are the same carriers that have resisted opening up for years and have been dictating what features are put onto and left off of the phones. And companies unveiled more services to use on your phone, including GPS, mapping, social networking and entertainment.

San Diego’s Qualcomm had one of the largest booths showcasing a wide range of products and technologies. Qualcomm’s inGeo chip, for example, can track the location of individuals, people and pets to provide location information using its built-in GPS and data communications technology. Its new Snapdragon chip combines high-speed wireless connectivity with the processing power of a fast computer, yet with exceptionally low power consumption. Qualcomm’s new Mirasol black and white displays provide clear visibility in bright light with virtually no power consumption. That means devices can have an always-on display with little effect on battery life.

TomTom showed new routing technology for its next generation GPS devices. Through built-in historical traffic patterns that vary by time and day, the devices will guide you to the fastest route. However, both TomTom and Garmin products are facing competition from carriers which add more GPS capabilities to their phones and provide real-time traffic information.

For example, Networks in Motion of Irvine announced AtlasBook Navigator, a new software platform enabling people to bypass traffic jams, explore a new town, plan social activities on-the-go or just find their way home using their GPS-enabled mobile phone. Its products are available from Verizon. (networksinmotion.com).

Fighting back, Garmin showed its new Nuvifone, although it was a non-working mock-up under a plastic dome. It’s another all screen phone, similar in size to the iPhone, with a powerful GPS. It will be available later this year. (garmin.com)

Vringo showed a free add-in to Facebook that retrieves your friends’ images and puts them into your cell phone, popping up when they call. (vringo.com)

MagicJack is a little device that plugs into a USB port and lets you make free phone calls from your computer to anywhere in the United States, even from overseas. Cost is $40 for the device that includes one year of service, plus $20 for subsequent years.

The Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth earpiece uses an open frame design that extends the microphone without adding weight. It looks more like jewelry and comes with a combination recharger and carrying case to double the run time. $150.

BlueAnt introduced the V1 Voice Control Bluetooth headset that accepts spoken commands and talks back to eliminate the confusion of using tiny buttons and deciphering flashing lights.

Velocity Mobile introduced two new Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional smart cell phones that have their own ingeniously designed interfaces to simplify the use of Windows Mobile. The nicely finished all black phones, models 103 and 111, are slim and compact and have the same trackball used on BlackBerrys. Available next quarter. (velocitymobile.com)

VoiceCloud of San Diego introduced a real-time voice-to-text transcription service that transcribes voice messages and sends them as e-mail messages. VoiceCloud says their advantage over existing systems is that it’s all done in-house so delivery is nearly instantaneous and it’s less expensive. (voicecloud.com)

San Diego’s Kyocera Wireless announced a merger with Sanyo’s phone business and introduced a number of new phones, including four GSM models for Latin America and a limited edition for Virgin Mobile.

Nokia introduced the N810 Tablet with WiMax. The product is a Web browser with slide-out keyboard. But it’s a limited device with no phone and intended to connect using WiMax, a new technology that’s slowly rolling out. WiMax will initially be used for data and is intended to complete with cellular.

Sierra Wireless and Sprint introduced their Compass 885 MicroSD USB High Speed EVDO modem with an expandable memory slot. It’s the smallest datacard yet designed to compete with Novatel’s U727, which I am using and like a lot.

More than a year after the iPhone debuted, Samsung and Sprint introduced the Instinct phone that looks like a physical clone of the iPhone, although a tad narrower. From my limited use, it may look like it but doesn’t work the same way. Sprint plans to spend $150 million in advertising for it, a dubious or perhaps desperate decision? It will be available in June at a price lower than the iPhone, according to Sprint.

So what was exciting and significant? Phones with built-in GPS that work better and do more than a stand-alone GPS, because they provide real-time traffic data and know your location; the amazing new Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm; and new unlocked phones with capabilities that offer more capabilities with no long-term carrier commitments.

Apricorn BIO secure portable drive

Poway-based Apricorn introduces a compact portable back-up drive that offers a high level of protection using a built-in fingerprint reader and real-time 128-bit AES hardware encryption, making the drive impossible to penetrate even if it’s removed from its enclosure. You can access your data with the drive plugged into any computer; no software is required. The BIO come is several capacities from 80 GB ($159) to 250 GB ($259) and includes everything needed to work with a PC or Mac. It’s ideal for business travelers that want to carry a backup without fear of it being lost or stolen.

Also, of note, Apricorn is celebrating its 25th birthday this month. The company has developed more than 600 products, including a range of hard drives to replace and upgrade existing notebook drives. Its upgrade kits are simple to use and excellent local support is available to assist. Apricorn’s products and service are well regarded by the technology industry.

Baker has developed and marketed consumer and computer products for Polaroid, Apple, Seiko and others. He is the holder of 30 patents and was named San Diego’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001. Phil can also be heard on KOGO AM the first Sunday of each month. Send comments to phil.baker@sddt.com. Comments may be published as Letters to the Editor. Phil’s blog is blog.philipgbaker.com.

If you find traditional voicemail at best an anachronism, and at worst a time sink, VoiceCloud provides an inexpensive way to manage your messages better. While its all-you-can-eat service may not offer anything that its competitors do not, it does one thing very well: convert voice messages into text.

Set Up

As with other voicemail-to-text services, setting up VoiceCloud was a remarkably simple affair. Signing up involved selecting a carrier (Alltel, AT&T, Cox Digital Phone, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile, US Cellular, or Verizon Wireless) creating a username and password, entering our credit card information, and dialing entering a code into our handset to complete the setup.

Pricing

VoiceCloud offers two services: a free voicemail-to-audio conversion and voicemail-to-text transcriptions. The first provides up to 50 transcriptions per month for $9.95 (10 more transcriptions than what PhoneTag offers for the same price); an unlimited plan costs $19.95 per month (which is $10 cheaper than PhoneTag’s unlimited plan). If you prefer a pay-as-you-go option, you’re out of luck with VoiceCloud, but PhoneTag has a 35-cents-per-message rate for those who don’t want to pay a monthly fee.

Navigation

VoiceCloud, like PhoneTag and YouMail, uses a Web interface that resembles an inbox; opening a message is as simple as clicking on it. Like YouMail, you can read transcribed messages (or play back your audio messages) in the browser, but you can also search messages via keyword. Developers can even utilize a “lite” version of the VoiceCloud API, which allows them to access voicemail transcription as a back end to their own applications.

Performance

After staging a few calls and letting them go to voicemail, we were quite pleased with VoiceCloud’s transcription. The text message was very accurate and legible, and able to distinguish between homophones (such as too, to, and two). This is a testament to the fact that humans, working in conjunction with computers, analyze the voice messages. VoiceCloud breaks messages into chunks (for enhanced privacy and security) that are streamed in real time to transcription agents who type the words of the voicemail. The transcribed chunks are then recombined by special software and pushed to the subscriber as an e-mail or text message. Still, VoiceCloud stumbled over less-common names like “Horatio” and “Massapequa.”

Transcribed voicemail arrived within 3 minutes, as both an e-mail and text message. Voicemails are stored in the Amazon S3 cloud as MP3 or WAV files so you can download them, play them in a browser (there’s also a special iPhone-formatted mobile site), or have them delivered to your inbox. At this time, you can’t reply to transcribed messages via e-mail using the Web interface, but VoiceCloud said that feature should roll out before mid-year. Unlike Youmail, VoiceCloud’s voice-to-audio and transcription services are tied together, which offers less configuration flexibility but is ultimately easier to understand.

Extras

If you want a witty voicemail greeting, you’ll have to create it yourself by dialing into the service or uploading an audio file. VoiceCloud doesn’t have the rich community comparable to YouMail, which supplies tons of free introductions. Similar to PhoneTag and YouMail, you don’t have to worry about deleting files, as VoiceCloud offers unlimited storage.

Verdict

While VoiceCloud doesn’t have as wide an array of options and pricing plans as YouMail, it works with smaller carriers such as Cox Digital Phone and US Cellular, so it will appeal to subscribers on those networks. It lacks free transcription options and was not as accurate, but its $19.99 unlimited plan is $10 cheaper than PhoneTag and $12 cheaper than YouMail’s Read-It Unlimited monthly fee. If you can get by with just the basics, VoiceCloud is a decent option.

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ — VoiceCloud(TM) the premier provider of true next-generation, voice-to-text solutions, today announces general availability of their industry-leading, voicemail-to-text transcription services.

A real-time, voicemail-to-text transcription service, the VoiceCloud solution utilizes VoiceCloud’s patent-pending streaming audio technology that allows multiple concurrent connections to instantaneously transcribe voicemail messages to text. Whether users are on a mobile device or online, they can immediately see who has called and what was said – ensuring that critical voicemails are never missed.

Additionally, the VoiceCloud solution is completely self-hosted, which means that all resources and operations are managed in-house, processes are streamlined and – unlike other providers of voicemail-to-text services – the time and costs of dealing with third-parties are eliminated. This allows VoiceCloud to oversee total quality control, which combined with their advanced technology, enables them to provide their customers with quicker, more accurate and less expensive services than any other voicemail-to-text provider in the industry.

Unprecedented in the industry, VoiceCloud is offering their monthly unlimited service plan for $19.95 which is 33% to 50% less than any other existing voicemail-to-text transcription service, as well as a set plan of 50 transcriptions per month for $9.95 – also well under the cost of any comparable offerings in the market.

“This is a breakthrough in the voicemail-to-text arena, as no one else in this industry has been able to offer pricing at this level,” says Gerald Marolda, CEO of VoiceCloud. “We believe our extremely competitive pricing, combined with our advanced technology, superior quality and speed of service, is what has led us to the success we have had since going commercial – and will continue to do so in the future,” adds Marolda.

Other features of the VoiceCloud solution include unlimited voicemail storage and retrieval, keyword search, voice-to-text notes, a specially designed interface for the iPhone, a seamless developer API, an affiliate program and 24/7 customer service.

VoiceCloud currently offers a free seven-day trial of their voicemail-to- text transcription service. For more information about VoiceCloud’s real-time transcription and other voice-to-text solutions, visit www.voicecloud.com.

About VoiceCloud

VoiceCloud is the premier provider of true, next-generation, real-time voice-to-text transcription services. With access on both mobile devices and online, the cost-effective VoiceCloud solution is based on patented streaming audio technology and offers users anytime, anywhere, instantaneous audio and voice transcriptions. With complete in-house operations, flexible pricing options and support for major US carriers with fixed or mobile networks, VoiceCloud’s advanced transcription solution offers enterprises, developers, government entities and end-users expedient, accurate and secure services. For more information, visit www.voicecloud.com or email sales@voicecloud.com. SOURCE VoiceCloud

Charlotte Rubin of Crux Communications, Inc., +1-858-775-7621,
charlotte.rubin@cruxcomms.com, for VoiceCloud

Phone.com, “The New Phone.Company,” today announced a new service called Text-Voicemail that allows its Virtual Office customers to receive their voicemail messages transcribed into text and emailed directly to their email account of choice.
“With the introduction of our new Text-Voicemail service, our customers can enjoy additional added value from their Virtual Office service along with the other benefits from our robust set of features,” said Ari Rabban, CEO at Phone.com. “Our Virtual Office service is growing strongly since we launched back in December 2007, establishing Phone.com as a major player in the Virtual PBX, Toll Free Numbers provider and small business market.”
Receiving voicemails transcribed into emails eliminates the need for customers to log in to a voicemail account or to play messages from a PC or phone. The Text Voicemail service also allows easy review of voicemails from within a noisy environment or other situation when a phone call or PC is not available.
Users can save their voicemail messages in a searchable text format without the need to save large voice files, making it easier to forward voicemail content.
Phone.com Text Voicemail costs only 25¢ per message for Virtual Office customers and can be enabled or disabled at any time.
Phone.com Expands Phone Greetings Capabilities
Phone.com also expanded its new Phone Greetings Center that includes several recording options for primary and secondary phone greetings, music-on-hold and much more.
The Greetings Center makes it easy and extremely affordable for customers to record phone greetings that enhance their company image and improve their reach to clients and customers. Users can choose from a wide variety of professional voice talents, their own voice or use the free text conversion tool for a synthesized male or female voice.
About Phone.com
Phone.com is a one-stop portal and phone company offering a suite of innovative, economical phone services designed for entrepreneurs and households. Powered by VoIP and SaaS technologies, the company currently offers its first two Internet-based communications products, Virtual Office for small businesses and Home Phone for consumers with monthly plans starting at as low as $9.88. Phone.com’s mission is to leverage its memorable domain name, its competitive telecommunications capabilities and its outstanding 24/7 customer support to service a significant market share of SOHO (small office/home office) businesses and households.
Phone.com, founded in 2007, is headquartered in Boston.
For more information about Phone.com, go to http://www.phone.com or call 800-998-7087.

VoiceCloud’s Innovative Service Provides Instant Speech-to-Text Conversions

Savannah, GA – July 11, 2008 – OnPoint Digital, Inc., a leading eLearning and mobile solutions provider, today announced a partnership with VoiceCloud, Inc. wherein VoiceCloud will convert recorded audio responses to voice-based questionnaires, surveys and blog entries submitted by mobile workers via OnPoint’s CellCast Solutiontm platform and mobile widgets. Once transcribed by VoiceCloud, these mobile originated responses are immediately available and searchable via the CellCast database and can easily be leveraged as institutional knowledge in ongoing communications, informal learning and detailed reporting. The fee-based transactional service will be available in August to OnPoint’s CellCast customers.

OnPoint’s CellCast Solution™, First Place Winner in the Mobile Widget Contest category at the CTIA Wireless® show in Las Vegas in April 2008, provides enterprise accounts with the ability to prepare, package and track content deployed to mobile workers’ smart phones through a variety of delivery modalities including voice, SMS messages, text/HTML/PDF files, audio/video clips, animated slideshows and interactive surveys and forms using Integrated Voice Response (“IVR”) and message-based technologies. Current customers are already supporting mobile initiatives across a variety of disciplines including mobile learning, sales training, field data collection, tradeshow/event communications, and mobile marketing campaigns.

VoiceCloud, headquartered in San Diego, California with an Operations Center in Cairo, Egypt, is the premier provider of true, next generation, real-time voice-to-text transcription services. The company’s cost effective solution is based on patented streaming audio technology offering anytime, anywhere voice and audio transcription.

VoiceCloud is also teaming up with OnPoint to provide transcription services for attendees at the upcoming CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2008 Conference in San Francisco, California. OnPoint’s CellCast Mobile Widget will be used by attendees to enrich their mobile experience during this international event.

“We are excited to work with OnPoint to integrate their mobile content and communications platform with our voice transcription solution and services,” said Gerald Marolda, CEO of VoiceCloud. “Additionally, the fact that our solution is managed and implemented totally in-house means that we are able to guarantee that our customers receive efficient, expedient, accurate and secure services,” Marolda continued.

“VoiceCloud’s instant transcription service allows us to add an exciting new dimension to our CellCast Solution,” said Robert Gadd, President and Cofounder of OnPoint Digital. “Enterprise customers will now be able to consolidate all the user-generated voice responses given in mobile learning, blogging or information gathering activities into searchable, text-based content that is immediately accessible and actionable.”

About OnPoint Digital, Inc.

OnPoint Digital, Inc. is an eLearning and mobile solutions provider dedicated to the development of powerful yet affordably priced online learning and performance management tools for middle market and enterprise customers, typically from 500 to 100,000 employees. OnPoint offers a full-featured LMS/LCMS software suite, enabling the creation and management of rich-media courseware, online assessments, appraisals, skills tracking and detailed reporting, plus numerous optional modules such as integrated analytics, e-commerce, portal/intranet and advanced mobile learning offerings.

OnPoint’s innovative CellCast Solution™ allows companies to easily create, deliver and track mobile content, communications and assessments directly to users’ cellphones and smart phones, minimizing the device-specific constraints and deployment costs associated with other mobile solutions. CellCasts are ideal for mobile learning, product updates, data collection and field communications. For more information, visit our websites at www.mlearning.com or www.onpointdigital.com.

About VoiceCloud, Inc.

VoiceCloud is the premier provider of true, next-generation, real-time voice-to-text transcription services. With access on both mobile devices and online, the cost-effective VoiceCloud solution is based on patented streaming audio technology and offers users anytime, anywhere, instantaneous audio and voice transcriptions. With complete in-house operations, flexible pricing options and support for major U.S. carriers with fixed or mobile networks, VoiceCloud’s advanced transcription solution offers enterprises, developers and end-users expedient, accurate and secure services. For more information, visit www.voicecloud.com.

LAS VEGAS, April 1 /PRNewswire/ — VoiceCloud, a new company headquartered in San Diego, CA, today announces the first, and only, real-time voice-to text transcription service. With VoiceCloud’s innovative solution, users are now able to access and read their voicemail messages — transcribed in real-time — on either a mobile device or online.

Utilizing VoiceCloud’s patent-pending streaming audio technology to enable real-time information delivery and hardware that allows multiple concurrent connections, messages that may take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes to get to the user with other solutions, will now be instantaneously delivered with the VoiceCloud service. Whether users are on a mobile phone, iPhone, Blackberry or online, they can immediately see who has called and what was said – ensuring that critical voice messages are never missed.

Compared to existing voice-to-text transcription solutions, the VoiceCloud solution is completely turnkey. With all resources and operations managed in house, processes are streamlined and the time and costs of dealing with third-parties are eliminated. This enables VoiceCloud to oversee total quality control and pass their cost-savings on to the user in the way of competitive pricing — anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of the cost of other market offerings — and flexible pricing options.

“We are extremely excited to bring this revolutionary new service to market and make audio and voice transcription truly available anytime and anywhere,” says Gerald Marolda, CEO of VoiceCloud. “Additionally, the fact that our solution is managed and implemented totally in-house, means that we are able to guarantee that our customers receive efficient, expedient, accurate and secure services,” Marolda continues.

Compatible with major US carriers and supporting both fixed and mobile networks, other unique features of the VoiceCloud solution include unlimited voice and transcription storage and retrieval, a specially designed interface for the iPhone, a seamless API option and 24/7 customer service and support.

In connection with CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas, April 1-3, VoiceCloud will be offering their new voice-to-text service free-of-charge for a trial period. For more information on how to sign up for this service, visit VoiceCloud at booth 4427-X in the M-tertainment Pavilion or visit http://www.voicecloud.com.

About VoiceCloud

VoiceCloud is the premier provider of true, next-generation, real-time voice-to-text transcription services. With access on both mobile devices and online, the cost-effective VoiceCloud solution is based on patented streaming audio technology and offers users anytime, anywhere, instantaneous audio and voice transcriptions. With complete in-house operations, flexible pricing options and support for major US carriers with fixed or mobile networks, VoiceCloud’s advanced transcription solution offers enterprises, developers and end-users expedient, accurate and secure services. For more information, visit http://www.voicecloud.com or email sales@voicecloud.com.

VoiceCloud makes a real-time, voice-to-text transcription service and hopes to get the attention of carriers with a beta version at the CTIA Wireless 2008 show.

Existing telephone-based dictation services take too long to work because they typically involve multiple layers of outsourcing, Marolda said. “We were seeing things take 20-40 minutes,” he said. “We could do this via streaming technology, and have our agents on the line at the same time the voicemail is being left, and immediately start the transcription. Every transcribed message is done by a human,” he explained.

Marolda says that by keeping his transcriptionists in-house, VoiceCloud can serve as a security blanket to the end user. But no human is infallible.

“Everybody’s got their price. But in the big picture, all of these companies are using outsourcers, and some of them are outsourcing the outsourcers. With us, everybody we hire is a college graduate and is background-checked. They all sign security agreements. They don’t see the number the message is coming from … we’re in control of the ball from start to finish,” he said. Users also can tag certain numbers to a do-not-transcribe list, he said.

In the future, VoiceCloud may offer voicemail language translation services. The company included unlimited storage and has the unique ability for users to conduct keyword searches. Another option they’re considering is the design of client applications for an increasing number of mobile operating systems; they already have an Apple iPhone version.

The company, based in San Diego, is entirely self-funded by Marolda and his business partner Sam Afifi. Pricing is not yet announced, but there will be different tiers of services and the first month will be free, Marolda said.