IVR Deconstructed

Iceland’s President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson made some interesting comments last week that got me thinking about how you never know where technology will take hold.

Grimsson said that social media has more influence over global affairs than governments now. It’s a surprisingly sophisticated viewpoint from the leader of one of the world’s smallest nations. And it illustrates how some of our smallest societies are also some of our most tech-savvy.

Grimsson’s comments, of course, come in the wake of the Arab Spring revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya as well as uprisings and protests in Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and other countries.

“I know it’s a strong statement, especially coming from someone who spent most of his life within those institutions,” Grimsson told CNN. “But the power of the social media is, in my opinion, transforming the political process in such a way that I can’t see any chance for the traditional, formal institutions of our democratic systems to keep up.”

What strikes me most about these comments is where they’re coming from—the president of a small island nation with a population of only 318,000. (Wyoming, our least populated state, has over 500,000 people in it.)

It would have been an insightful comment from the leader of a superpower, but it’s even more insightful from the leader of a small nation. But looks are deceiving, aren’t they? Some of the world’s smallest nations actually have some of the highest Internet penetration rates.

Internet penetration in Wyoming is at 76%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (just below the U.S. rate of 78%). It’s a good bit below our highest state New Hampshire at 85%, but it’s still very respectable. However, it doesn’t come anywhere near Iceland’s 97%.

You might not expect it, but Iceland has the second highest Internet penetration rate in the world, according to InternetWorldStats.com. Iceland also has a really high Facebook penetration rate at 67% (the U.S. is at 48%).

To be continued shortly…

Earlier this week we published an article about the new iPhone voice assistant, Siri. It was noted that in the U.S. and at least four other countries, Siri’s voice is female (France and the UK are the only two countries thus far that are featuring Siri with a male voice). A CNN article this morning presents a theory that posits that most voice recognition applications are powered by female voices.

As a company who works extensively with voice recognition applications and software, Plum can corroborate this supposition to an extent. A majority of the voice applications operating on the Plum VXML platform are indeed female. This of course begs the question, why? And in addition, why are some countries receiving Siri-loaded iPhones that have a male instead of a female voice?

One answer to this question may in fact be biological. A large number of scientific studies have shown that a majority of people find female voices more calming and soothing to listen to than males. Per Stanford Professor Clifford Nass, “It’s much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes.”

Nass goes on to say that the reason for the human preference of female over male voices in many instances is potentially due to the fact that the female voice is the first one human’s hear while in the womb. Research has shown that fetuses will indeed react to the sound of their mother’s voice, but not to other female’s voices or to their father’s voice.

According to CNN, another possible reason people often prefer female over male voices is because they possess a unique pitch and quality that makes them easier to detect. This example dates all the way back to World War II, when women’s voices were utilized in the cockpits of fighter planes because they were distinct among the many male voices, and possessed a sound quality that was much easier to distinguish.

However, voice applications are by no means restricted to using only female voices. In some instances (like in the UK and France) a male voice has been chosen to power Siri. In the 1990s, BMW was forced to issue a recall on their navigation system because they had received so many complaints from German men refusing to take directions from a woman.

So how do tech companies choose what sex their voice application will speak in? For starters, most programs come with a variety of speech engines, allowing users to operate their programs specifically based on their preferences.

Depending on what TTS engine they are using (Nuance, Natural Voices, Cepstral), there are a variety of voices, accents and even languages users can choose from. Since Siri technology is brand new to the market, users don’t yet have the ability to change the default, but soon there will probably be a variety of voices and even accents users can select from.

While theories abound regarding Apple’s geographical gender choices for Siri, it is guaranteed that Apple spent a lot of time and money on market research and development to tailor the voice precisely to the market they were targeting. So while people’s evolutionary preferences may influence what type of voice they like to hear, this knowledge was extracted and the voice was assigned through the more scientific process of market research and subject observation and interaction.

It all started on the 17^th of February. Other countries in Northern Africa had already effectively formed successful movements to oust their leaders, and it was Libya’s turn. Under Gaddafi, corruption was rampant, one fifth of the population was unemployed and one-third lived below the poverty line.

Originally, those with objections to the Gaddafi government organized peacefully with the intention of engaging in nonviolent protest. Gaddafi forces met the protesters with harsh resistance two days later, plunging the country into an all-out civil war that would go on for 247 days.

Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi had been in power for forty-three years after he led a military coup to overthrow the king in 1969. During his forty-three year tenure, he abolished the constitution in favor of laws representative of his own ideology, which drew much of its philosophy from Sharia law.

Multiple reports have flooded in today confirming the capture and death of Colonel Gaddafi, bringing an end to this protracted civil war. According to a report from the Associated Press, it is estimated that between 25,000 and 30,000 people died during the course of the conflict, with an additional 4,000 missing. Casualties are measured on both sides and include civilians.

The Libyan people have a long road ahead of them in the aftermath of this civil war. They are now tasked with forming what will probably be a democratically elected government, and they will have to establish or reestablish international ties with countries unwilling to acknowledge the Gaddafi regime.

The Libyan civil war marked a turning point politically, socially and technologically. Much like Tunisia and Egypt, two countries that also underwent political revolution, Libya used social media in whatever capacity they could to release video footage and images to the rest of the world.

According to BostInnovation, “Social media platforms have emerged as powerful communication tools for pending revolutions throughout the world. We can look to social media for the dissemination of news and explanations on the most up to date status of this North African country.”

Libyan citizens, despite periods where the Internet was nearly inaccessible, have employed a wide variety of social media tools to inform the rest of the world. Libyans formed news sites on Facebook that have thousands of followers the world over, and whose news feeds and walls were constantly being modified and updated. Protesters also used Facebook to submit pictures, conduct discussions and even share videos of the protests.

Twitter is proving to be one of the most powerful social media tools in these political revolutions, in part because they offer short accounts of events in real time. People used Tweets to rally supporters, designate protests and meeting locations, and organize grassroots efforts countrywide.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So what is a video worth? YouTube offered some of the most shocking and powerful images of the conflict, and showed people thousands of miles away the gravity and significance of the situation in a way that words couldn’t.

It is a huge relief that this bloody civil war has finally come to an end, but the use of social media in political movements is just beginning. Social media tools have proven an effective, efficient and inexpensive means to transmit information and keep the world informed about what is actually occurring in the absence of verifiable news.

Gordon and Norma Yeager of Iowa married 72 years ago. Last week, they died in side-by-side hospital beds, one hour apart, holding hands.

“It was really strange…they were holding hands, and dad stopped breathing but I couldn’t figure out what was going on because the heart monitor was still going,” son Dennis Yeager told MSNBC. “But we were like, he isn’t breathing. How does he still have a heart beat? The nurse checked and said that’s because they were holding hands and it’s going through them. Her heart was beating through him and picking it up.”

The couple was married a looooooong time ago. It’s 72 years, but in technology years, it’s more like 1,500 years. (If one year to us is seven to dogs, then it’s at least 20 to technologies, which don’t live long these days.)

They married in 1939 in what was no doubt a fairly typical wedding for the time. Thinking about theirs, I can imagine what most weddings back then were probably like.

1939…

I’m guessing the brides and grooms didn’t see each other before the ceremony, as is tradition. They probably didn’t talk, either. Maybe there were a couple phone calls between parents’ houses during the morning, just to coordinate and make sure things were going smoothly.

I can picture a clanky old phone jangling away in the foyer of an old house. I can see one of the bride’s sisters answering the phone, talking to one of the groom’s brothers. Yes, she’ll be ready. Yes, he will too.

Someone’s great uncle inevitably got left behind somewhere when everyone headed to the church. One of the family members had to phone around to several houses to track the old guy down.

Of course no one answered the phones at the houses because everyone was on their way to the church. Someone had to drive out to the houses and physically check. They found Uncle Benny walking to the church, muttering and cursing to himself about it.

So that’s 1939. Fast forward to today…

The only major problem with Great Uncle Benny is whether he charged and turned on his cell phone (probably just a feature phone, but still a mobile phone).

That and whether it technically counts as seeing each other if the bride and groom text each other pictures or put updates on Facebook that the other can see during the morning before the ceremony.

It’s a long, long time in technology years since Gordon and Norma married.

What if the future of computers isn’t laptops or desktops? What if it’s smartphones?

Think about it. If you had a smartphone with Internet access and a full-blown operating system that could run all the software you use now on your computer—including word processing, spreadsheets, even graphics software—would you still want a computer?

“Yeah, well I have a huge hard drive on my laptop.”

If Apple can put 160 GB into an iPod today, I’m betting we’ll see huge memory in smartphones soon enough. And processing speed to match, with lightning-fast dual- and even quad-core processors.

Smartphones with dual-core processors are already here. The new Motorola Atrix and LG Optimus 2X have them. The next-generation iPhone will probably have one. Realistically, every manufacturer’s next-generation phone will have them.

“Well, I’m not gonna sit there typing on my smartphone.”

No one is. The Atrix, for example, has docks for plugging into a monitor, keyboard, mouse or whatever just like your laptop. It comes with up to 48 GB of memory, which isn’t bad at the moment but will, no doubt, get better. The dual-core processor can run a bunch of stuff at the same time, just like your computer.

“Yeah, well…”

Well, what?

Seriously, let’s say smartphones go up to about $1,000 in the next five years or so. Or even $1,200. Even at that price, it makes more sense to slim down to one device.

“Dude, my laptop was only $500, and I got my phone for $200 with a 2-year contract.”

Yes, and you’ll be able to do the same thing with a $1,200 phone. Maybe get it for $400 or so? And actually, phones may peak and then fall in price the way computers have.

Computers only last three years or so these days because manufacturers have traded durability for expense. They’re obsolete in a few years anyway, so there’s no need to make them last. It’s better to reduce the cost. And phones could be the same way in a few years.

There’s no way everyone will continue to want two or three devices if they can have one. Market demand will dictate it.

“Yeah, well…”

Well, what?