Technology conferences seem half-baked without some futuristic reflection. At the
Intel Capital Global Summit in Huntington Beach, there were plenty of reflections to go around. Intel's executives talked up what the company calls "Perceptual Computing". That is the next big frontier in the world of personal computing.
Some of it has already happened. "Perceptual" implies the use of natural and immersive interaction with devices and includes touch, facial recognition and voice, among others. Intel thinks voice will emerge as a mega trend over the next few years, completely changing the way users currently operate a personal computer.
For example: As soon as the last quarter of this year, Dell
ultrabooks will release with a voice application called Dragon, developed by U.S.-based company Nuance Communications. Say "Hello Dragon" and the app opens. Command it to find a song or video from either Google or Bing, and it immediately fetches that before playing it. Dragon can also do
Facebook and Twitter posts and read back messages from e-mails. Users need not press even a single key.
While researchers have been working on touch-free interactions with personal devices for at least a decade, the convergence of a few developments are making this trend happen right now. The processing capabilities of chips have dramatically improved while for all companies, differentiated consumer experiences have become a key to push products in an increasingly commoditized personal device market.
"Keyboard and mouse were the primary computing interface for decades. There will be new ways of interacting now," says Anil Nanduri, Director of Solutions and Products of Perceptual Computing at Intel. For speech recognition, the way PCs are designed has to change. "The microphone design has to be a certain quality, for instance," Nanduri said.
Intel says it is already working with 20-30 partners to develop applications around perceptual computing. The chipmaker wants a more vibrant developer ecosystem. The company has released a software development kit (SDK) for developers to build apps around facial analysis and tracking, finger tracking, close-range hand gestures, voice processing and 2D/3D augmented reality. Expect more perceptual apps by the first half of 2013.
(The writer is attending the Intel Capital Summit in Southern California on the invitation of the VC firm.)
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