April 2014

At first glance, few technologies feel as unsexy as voice. From a user’s perspective, little has changed since the days of Alexander Graham Bell. Most see voice as a mature technology that simply connects people in real-time across a distance.

But voice is experiencing a wave of innovation that will fundamentally alter this definition. Jae-woan Byun, the CTO of SK Telecom, condemned current voice offerings as “boring for users” but promised a “second tsunami” that could change everything. The first tsunami was about messaging. Thanks to the elimination of the historical limitations that telephony placed on voice, we are already sensing the shockwaves of the next tectonic shift. Voice will be:

• Available every “wear.” Voice is fast becoming a primary interface for wearable technology.
• Private and secure. Encryption of voice will become the default, not the exception.
• Smartphone-native. Today, the dialer application on a smartphone replicates 1970s touchtone telephony.
• Application-embedded features. Beyond caller ID, inbound voice calls carry little context today.
• Beyond the “call.” Future voice communication will mirror the more fluid activity streams on Facebook, Yammer or Google Hangouts. We will invite others into a call as needed, allowing them to jump in and out of conversations seamlessly. Outside calls or cold calls will come with a “conversation request,” where the caller pitches the receiver on why he or she should answer and invest their time.
• Augmented memory & total recall.
• Your intelligent voice assistant.
• Accessible to all. The next generation of voice services will not only have high-definition audio, but also customized acoustic profiles to us individually and our environment. We don’t all speak the same languages or dialects, so automated real-time subtitles and translation will become commonplace.

[Geddes co-founder and executive director of the Hypervoice Consortium]

[Commentary] President Barack Obama says he wants Congress to adopt legislation that would end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of telephone metadata, a surveillance initiative exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

As it currently operates, the NSA's collection program gathers and stores the metadata of every call made to and from the United States. "I have decided that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk," President Obama said. "Instead, the data should remain at the telephone companies for the length of time it currently does today." Rights groups are applauding the move. But they say it’s virtually a meaningless gesture in its current form.

As chief executive, President Obama has the power to reform the NSA on his own with the stroke of a pen. By not putting this initiative into an executive order, he punted to Congress on an issue that affects the civil liberties of most anybody who picks up a phone. Every day Congress waits on the issue is another day Americans' calling records are being collected by the government without suspicion that any crime was committed.

“He does not need congressional approval for this,” said Mark Jaycoxx, an Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney. Ultimately, congressional action will be necessary even if the President signs an executive order on the issue. Future Presidents are not bound by former presidential decrees, which means the 44th president does not have to adhere to any President Obama promises of ethical and limited metadata use.

It’s not Google Glass’ nerdy aesthetics, somewhat douchey reputation or lofty price tag that will prevent a whopping 72 percent of Americans from donning the headset of the future -- it’s concerns about privacy and safety.

A new study from market research firm Toluna found that privacy worries are a major stumbling block for Google Glass, with two in five consumers citing concerns such as the potential for hackers to access private data, the ease with which others could record their actions without their knowledge and the potential for private actions to become public.

“Google Glass is not yet available on the open market, although it is clear that a high proportion of individuals have concerns about the potential impact on their privacy, said Mark Simon, Toluna’s North American managing director. “This is something Google and other tech companies using the technology should address before the product can become mainstream.”

A new analysis done by Nielsen with CBS found that advertising campaigns combining local television and local radio doubled the campaign’s reach in certain markets.

In five markets, Nielsen found that advertisers could reach 84% to 93% of all adults by putting TV and radio together. One effective tactic involved mixing dayparts. For example buying primetime on TV and morning drive on radio reached 75% of adults 18 to 49 in Boston within four weeks.

“Industry-standard measurement is a first step toward showing large advertisers what local advertisers already know -- there is a lot of value to combining local television and radio in a media buy,” said David Poltrack, chief research officer, CBS Corporation, which owns TV and radio stations in a number of major markets. “We will continue working with Nielsen to bring to the industry the rich analytics, reporting tools and planning software needed to prove these benefits to advertisers. The long-term plan is to include online as well. This proof of concept demonstrates the power of broadcasting to quickly and frequently reach mass audiences.”