Using speech to search for information or to ask a question is already all the rage on smartphones and tablets with Google’s Voice Search and Apple’s Siri taking centre stage for popularity. And now, us desktop and laptop users are no longer to miss out as Google has introduced a Voice Search extension for the Chrome browser.
To use the feature, users must download the extension and have a microphone built in or connected to their device. When Voice Search is installed on Chrome, a microphone icon will appear next to the search bar. The icon must be clicked to become activated and then users will be taken to a screen asking them to ‘Speak Now’.
After the search terms are spoken, Google will first type out what is being said and will then either display a relevant list of search results or, if the speech was not understood, will bring up a list of search options. Depending on the search terms or questions, Google might also speak the answer. Read more about Chrome voice search.
The introduction of hands-free searching across devices is all part of Google’s aim to improve the way people communicate with the search engine. In a post on the Google blog, Amit Singhal commented, “People communicate with each other by conversation, not by typing keywords — and we’ve been hard at work to make Google understand and answer your questions more like people do.”
With Voice recognition technology becoming increasingly intelligent, are we to experience a future where the keyboard becomes obsolete for browsing the internet? Or, is trying to get a computer to understand our various accents all a bit too much effort?
Keyboard or voice? What’s your choice?
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