I guess its cool, but what's the point? You still have to have a browser opened to Google and click on a link to get the results from the voice search. Why not just type in the keywords rather than pick up a phone and dial a number?

Posted by: Darin on May 21, 2002 11:08 AM

 

...why do it? Because it is an experiment. This will lead to other things. One thing will lead to another thing. We can also start thinking about the usability implications right now. What is good? What is bad? Your comment is a good one Darin, but I want to be more open right now. Remember, this is not an "official" Google tool yet. It is something they are testing. Let's take it for a ride!

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on May 21, 2002 11:23 AM

 

Been trying for an hour and still no success. I know this is an Alpha, but my first thought is they should have more lines, if it can be found on the web it can be used.

Does this no working have any negative impact on the Google brand?

Posted by: JB on May 21, 2002 11:35 AM

 

PRAISE TO GOOGLE! This is great! It's at it's first stages and other than a few usability issues I think this would be a very useful technology.
Here goes my imagination...
I can see myself buying plane tickets for my next vacation while I'm driving home, through my car. I can see this technology being very useful at the movie theater. "Two adults to About A Boy!" swipe the card and out come the tickets. So many uses.. but as always I'm getting ahead of myself.
I just hope that they provide an 800 number and a results page that doesn't refresh every two seconds...

Posted by: Berna on May 21, 2002 12:22 PM

 

Just got through. A perky voice says: "Say your search query."

Nothing happens unless the query is understood, which is a little strange. There should be some sort of key (#?) press required to indicate the end of the query.

As soon as the query is understood, the same voice says, "Okay, searching" and then something like "You're, results are ready."

Pretty good results that require you to speak a bit slower than normal. A search for "wallet" failed (kept getting results for "olech") until I appended it with "money."

Homonyms also trip it up (including an ego search with my -- admittedly obscure -- last name [returned "selah" instead of "saila"]).

Posted by: csaila on May 21, 2002 12:49 PM

 

Got through on the first try (lucky me, it seems?). First thought was "this is cool". Second thought was "either the VR on this thing needs some work or I need speech lessons". Third thought was "This is really cool. Hey coworker, come look at this!". And so on and so forth...

Imagine this scenario. On your way to a meeting, you want to gather some information on a particular subject pertaining to that meeting. You know you'll have a few minutes prior to that meeting to read up on the topic. You dial the Google VR search and say your request, a link to the results is emailed to you.

Many more scenarios bubbling around in my head that could benefit from this CTI/web convergence - research librarians, call center reps, para legal, etc.

Usabilty-wise, the VR needs work. With rock solid VR and speech more than twice as fast as keyboard entry, this interface could become more economical than it's web counterpart. My $0.02.

Posted by: Shane on May 21, 2002 12:54 PM

 

Got through.. Finally!!! I don't like people who get through the first try, it's NOT FAIR! ;o)

Ok, I heard the voice, know what you mean... alright I used the keyword "documentation" but when the results came back Documentation was highlighted, but so was Advantage? Why? Puzzled me there... I want to learn more about the backend of this thing now... Im curious..

Posted by: Berna on May 21, 2002 01:33 PM

 

John, I agree with your comments; I was taking it at face value. I can see a useful application for it if you can eliminate having to use both interfaces.

I like the idea of verbalizing your query then having the link to the results e-mailed to you. I especially see great use for those who can't use a keyboard.

We had a group tour of a VR company recently, and one of our group with an Indian accent had some trouble getting the system to recognize her voice. It did a wonderful job for the stage it was in, and its bound to improve.

Posted by: Darin on May 21, 2002 02:56 PM

 

Darin, I was just going to ask what about accents? It's good to know that it would recognize accents as well. Otherwise it would be more or less a localized service I guess.
I wonder how Google would respond to an accent.. hmmm...

Posted by: Berna on May 21, 2002 04:15 PM

 

Berna, the demonstration I witnessed was very impressive. French, German, Spanish, you name it, it could recognize it. They did admit that there were some intracacies with certain accents that they were having a little difficulty getting the system to recognize.

Posted by: Darin on May 21, 2002 04:40 PM

 

I made it through. Very, very interesting. I have many thoughts on this and I plan on writing something up later today. Stay tuned!!

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on May 21, 2002 05:08 PM