Saturday, May 17, 2008

Blabnote - voice-activated social networking

bn.jpgMobile social networking is a great idea, but using a keypad to navigate most social sites can be a bit of a chore.

Blabnote hopes to change that by offering a social networking service that is controlled entirely by speech.

It's a closed beta at the moment, so all we have to go on is the contents of the promotional site, but essentially this is about calling a number and manipulating contacts and creating 'events' by saying things like 'Invite Dave and Sue to Dinner' or 'Join the group called East Midlands Pigeon Fanciers'.

t's a nice idea, but this kind of servic4 will stand or fall on the software's ability to recognise your voice commands. Its no good launching a national service if it is going to be confounded by some of the more - ah - idiosyncratic regional accents and require power users to learn Received Pronunciation.

The other factor that might hinder uptake is the same one that means that texting is so popular - you can do it silently in public places and use a shorthand to communicate concisely. If people are going to actually have to say LOL and WTF things are going to get strange.

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