Microsoft Corp. was hoping new voice-recognition software would impress an auditorium full of financial analysts, but a glitch turned the demonstration into a bit of an embarrassment.
The trouble began when Shanen Boettcher, a member of the team working on the new version of the Windows operating system, gave his first voice command.
Instead of typing, “Dear mom,” as Boettcher had instructed, the computer spurted out: “Dear aunt.”
After the first round of chuckles, Boettcher said “Fix aunt,” but “let’s set” appeared on the screen.
“Delete that,” he said – three times – to no avail before suggesting that an echo in the room was foiling the presentation.
The loudest laughs came after he told the computer to “select all,” which prompted it to finish the sentence it had started with the words: “so double the killer delete select all.”
Matt Rosoff, an analyst with the firm Directions on Microsoft, said he didn’t make much of the stumble during last week’s demonstration of Vista, the delayed update to Windows. He doesn’t see speech recognition as a feature that will drive many people to upgrade to Vista.
Closer to reality: A system demonstrated for the first time recently promises the most realistic full-motion animation yet of humans in movies and video games.
Traditional motion-capture technology, used to animate Tom Hanks in “Polar Express,” for instance, requires an actor to don a special suit, then be covered in dozens of dots. A camera captures the movement of the dots, then digitizes the information, which is used by animators to render images.
The method is fine for large-scale torso action, as in video games, but has not yet produced satisfying images of the human face, with its subtle gestures.
With the Contour Reality Capture System, developed by Mova LLC, actors are covered in phosphorescent makeup and placed in front of an array of lights and cameras.
The lights flash rapidly – too fast for the human eye to detect – and cameras capture the glowing images when the lights are off. A second set of cameras simultaneously captures the actor’s performance fully lit.
Those images are combined to produce an animation that reproduces the subtle movements of the lips during speech, for instance, or the arch of an eyebrow.
Images are ready for viewing the next day. No need anymore to wait months for expensive and tedious special effects. The images are also produced at a fraction of the cost of current motion-capture systems.
All aboard and online: The nation’s first mass-transit train with wireless Internet access rolled through Silicon Valley this week, offering laptop-lugging testers access to the Web and e-mail without forcing them to peck at tiny phone or BlackBerry keyboards.
Nomad Digital Ltd. and Intel Corp. outfitted the Caltrain light-rail vehicle with WiMAX-based technology, which provided continuous high-speed Internet access between the popular Millbrae and Palo Alto stations. The train reached 79 mph while testers from the companies watched streaming video, composed e-mail and completed a large file download at broadband speeds.
The system links the train to track-side wireless base stations, with radios located every few miles along the rail. Caltrain might also use the technology to monitor train speeds and security cameras.
Randy Rudolph, Caltrain’s chief information officer, said the successful debut means the company can introduce the technology along the entire line, from Gilroy north through San Jose to San Francisco. It will likely be available within two months. Caltrain does not plan to charge extra for the service.
ESPN tries to broaden its pay-for-access service: ESPN is trying to bring its pay-for-access model from cable TV to the Internet.
The sports network’s new ESPN360 Web site, which includes live sportscasts, on-demand video, ESPN TV shows and interactive games, is only available to the customers of Internet service providers that buy the right to offer ESPN360.
Unlike other outlets that offer programming content at a charge or even free to prospective viewers, ESPN instead relies on partnerships with Verizon Communications Inc. and other telecommunications providers.
Tanya Van Court, vice president and general manager of ESPN Broadband and Interactive Television, said the benefit for the Internet service providers is that they “get to sell a high-speed data package that’s not the same old high-speed data package. It makes sense for everyone: fans, partners and ESPN,” she said.
But not all ISPs are thrilled. David Grabert, a spokesman for Cox Communications Inc., said the cable company does not plan to work with ESPN360.
“There’s a significant cost and expense that would be passed on to our customers,” he said.
Cable TV may not be the best model to follow on the Internet, Grabert said. With demands from some critics that cable TV break apart its package of program offerings, paying extra to offer ESPN360 on Cox’s broadband service would be heading in the opposite direction, he said.
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