I set up Google Voice as the voice mail for my new Google Nexus One phone. I really like the way the voice mail transcriptions spare me from the tedium of listening to all of the messages, but sometimes the speech recognition is reminiscent of the humor that was spawned by the handwriting recognition on the Apple Newton. One that I received today:
Hi mister. Harris a man steals calling from Fidelity Investments about your computer Corporation retirement plans, please return my call on your convenience at 1 800 557. Thanking 100 extension 4291. Thank you.
It was enough for me to know how I should respond, but it did make me smile.
Chris Herot has been the founder and CTO or CEO of several Boston-area software companies, most recently Convoq/Zingdom Communications, where he provides strategic and technical advice to clients worldwide in the areas of audio, video, and social media.
Ever since he left what is now MIT’s Media Laboratory, he has been building interactive systems to enable people to create and communicate. What he enjoys most is learning about new technologies and finding ways to deploy them to solve human problems. To do this, he has started three companies and formed new entrepreneurial businesses within larger enterprises.
