terrygold.com Category - Speech Recognition
https://www.terrygold.com/t/
Entrepreneurship, Music, Running and . . .en-USTerry Gold2020-04-06T18:57:38-06:00Gold Systems is hiring a sales person in the Great Lakes region
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2011/01/gold-systems-is-hiring-a-sales-person-in-the-great-lakes-region.html
2010 was a good year for Gold Systems, and we grew revenue and profits. Now we want to do it again, so we're going to be adding to our sales organization. We are looking for a Regional Sales Manager for...<p>2010 was a good year for Gold Systems, and we grew revenue and profits.  Now we want to do it again, so we're going to be adding to our sales organization. </p>
<p>We are looking for a <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/about/careers/jobs/job-details/10-regional-sales-manager.html" target="_self">Regional Sales Manager</a> for the Great Lakes Region.  Besides the usual requirements, (you need to be able to prospect, sell and close business) we're looking for people who fit our culture and have experience in our industry.  The ideal person would have sales experience with IVR and speech recognition applications, contact centers, and most importantly a track record of selling with Microsoft and Microsoft partners.</p>
<p>To learn more about Gold Systems, <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/about/" target="_self">click here</a>.  You can submit your resume on the website or if you send it directly to me, I'll get it to the right people.</p>
<p>Terry</p>
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https://www.terrygold.com/t/2008/04/computer-versus.html
I think I tend to take my brain for granted. And I don't really mean my brain in particular, but brains in general. My business develops speech recognition applications. We're not the speech scientists figuring out how to recognize sounds...<p>I think I tend to take my brain for granted. And I don't really mean my brain in particular, but brains in general. </p>
<p>My business develops speech recognition applications. We're not the speech scientists figuring out how to recognize sounds as words, but we take their engines and then build applications on top of them. Given a limited domain, we can build applications that really do an amazing job of interpreting what a person is saying. When you encounter a "bad" application, it's usually the result of a designer who's tried to push the technology too far, hasn't given enough consideration to what we call "human factors" or they haven't done a good enough job integrating the speech recognition with the back end systems that retrieve whatever information you are looking for at the moment.</p>
<p>My big sister sent me an email that had the following passage in it, and it reminded me just how amazing our brains are at pattern matching. I guess software could be written that would be able to interpret the text accurately (it almost makes me want to <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/express/vcsharp/Default.aspx">go download Visual Studio</a> and take a shot at it) but to think that our brains can do this without much effort is pretty cool. I believe we're still a long way away from a computer being as "smart" as a human.</p>
<p>Can you read this?</p>
<p>I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed this psas it on !! </p>
<p>Now sometimes this pattern matching ability gets us in trouble. In the same email was this little test . . .</p>
<p>FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE <br />SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI <br />FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH <br />THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...</p>
<p>Now go back and count how many times the letter 'F' appears. (Go on, I'll wait for you to count.)</p>
<p>The answer is six. I'm sure I've seen this before, but it still took a couple of tries to get it right, thanks I imagine to the amazing pattern matcher in my brain.</p>
Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2008-04-14T10:59:47-06:00Help Wanted and getting things done
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2008/02/help-wanted-a-1.html
This post on "getting things done" is brought to you by Gold Systems, a Unified Communications software company in Boulder, Colorado. If you are a Unified Communications Specialist, a Telecom Engineer, a sales professional or a software Engineer and you...<p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">This post on "getting things done" is brought to you by <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/">Gold Systems</a>, a <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/uc">Unified Communications software company</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulder%2C_Colorado">Boulder, Colorado</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If you are a Unified Communications Specialist, a Telecom Engineer, a sales professional or a software Engineer and you think you just might want to consider a career change, check out the job postings at <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/index.php?load=content&page_id=28">http://www.goldsys.com/index.php?load=content&page_id=28</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Doesn't matter too much where you live - you'd be welcome to join us in sunny Boulder, Colorado, but we have people all over the U.S. if you happen to like where you currently live.</p><br /><p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri"></p>
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<p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">Now back to the blog - I've had a task on my task list to write the three sentences above for about a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Once I sat down to do it, it took me about five minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And that reminds me of a blog post I've been meaning to write.</p><br /><p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri"></p>
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<p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">A few years ago Jeff Bezos, the founder of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/">Amazon.com</a>, came to <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/">CU Boulder</a> to talk about his experience as an entrepreneur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was a great thrill to hear him speak and to talk to him for a minute after his presentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One story he told was how in the very early days of Amazon.com they (him included) would box up books to ship out to customers. The orders started pouring in and they found they were spending a lot of time on their knees on a hard concrete floor boxing up books.</p><br /><p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri"></p>
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<p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">Jeff said that he'd finally had enough, and he told someone that he was going to the local home improvement store to buy knee pads like the kind carpenters often wear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The other person said, "Jeff, why don't we just buy tables instead?"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He told the story I think to illustrate how easy it is to get so busy that you get so focused on the task at hand that you can't think about the real problem and the best way to solve it.</p><br /><p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri"></p>
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<p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">I see this all the time, and it is an easy trap to fall into.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A good entrepreneur friend of mine doesn't have time to investigate buying a high-quality spam filter, so he spends time every day or two going through the spam to make sure nothing important is getting trapped by his low-quality spam filter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It's like buying kneepads instead of a table.</p><br /><p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri"></p>
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<p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">I figured out a long time ago that as an entrepreneur, there would always be more for me to do than there was time to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The first five years or so I stressed out about it all the time, thinking that I needed to work longer hours to get everything done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">needed</span> to get everything done, I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I tended to work on the least important, most urgent tasks but then my friend <a href="http://jimlejeal.typepad.com/">Jim Lejeal</a> pointed out that the CEO's job is to work on the most important tasks that only the CEO can do, and that the really important tasks are usually not perceived as urgent at all. It's normal to have more than we can do, and I think it's good because if I have a lot of options for how to spend my time, I can try to choose the very best use of my time. (It's a goal - I <em>don't </em>always spend my time on the most important thing - I'm human and I still spend <a href="http://www.xbox.com/">time</a> on <a href="http://www.terrygold.com/t/car_computer/index.html">silly</a> <a href="http://www.bluegrass.com/">stuff</a> at <a href="http://www.pbase.com/tgold">times</a>. It helps keep me sane.)</p><br /><p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri"></p>
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<p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">I created a category on my task list as "The ONE Most Important Thing" just to remind me to think about the one really important thing each day that I can do to move the company forward.</p><br /><p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri"></p>
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<p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri"></p><br /><p style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; MARGIN: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">So here's the tie-in back to my original help wanted post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I was so busy, I didn't take five minutes to do something that will ultimately make me and other people at my company less busy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Now I've done it and I can check it off my task list. </span>What have you not taken time to do, that if you'd just do it, would ultimately save you a lot of time and make your business or your life better?</p>EntrepreneurshipSpeech RecognitionUnified CommunicationsTerry Gold2008-02-06T17:55:04-07:00Wireless in the wilderness
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/09/wireless-in-the.html
I've had one of the Microsoft Tanjay VoIP phones for three or four months now and I'm really liking it. I start my day by swiping my fingerprint to unlock the directory, which automatically sets my presence to "Available", unless...<p>I've had one of the Microsoft Tanjay VoIP phones for three or four months now and I'm really liking it. I start my day by swiping my fingerprint to unlock the directory, which automatically sets my presence to "Available", unless<a href="http://www.terrygold.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/25/img_7633_2.jpg"><img title="Img_7633_2" height="266" alt="Img_7633_2" src="http://www.terrygold.com/t/images/2007/09/25/img_7633_2.jpg" width="400" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> I have a meeting scheduled, in which case it talks to the Exchange Server and magically sets my presence to "In a Meeting". The sound quality, which is what really matters in a phone, is great.</p>
<p>A couple of weeks ago, the <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/markdea/archive/2007/09/11/stick-that-in-your-adsl-pipe-and-phone-it.aspx">Microsoft product manager for UC</a> wrote about how cool it was that he was able to take his Tanjay phone home, plug it into his home network and it just worked. He could make and take calls just as if he were sitting at his desk at work.</p>
<p>Yep, that's cool all right, but you just know (if you read my blog) that my first thought was "I wonder if it would work in the FJ Cruiser?" Not only did it work in the FJ, but I was able to go up into the mountains, and sit on a rock with both my laptop and the Tanjay working together on the FJ's EVDO hotspot.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.terrygold.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/25/img_7637.jpg"><img title="Img_7637" height="266" alt="Img_7637" src="http://www.terrygold.com/t/images/2007/09/25/img_7637.jpg" width="400" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> I was able to surf the web, check email AND carry on a conference call via the Tanjay. Yup, I'm a geek.</p>
<p>A quick note - the new FJ Cruiser Car computer has arrived and I'm starting the installation.</p>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-09-25T09:44:29-06:00Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Pricing
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/09/microsoft-offic.html
Michael Dunn, one of the gotspeech.net guys, wrote the first article that I saw in public about the pricing for the new Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Michael does an example configuration of a typical speech recognition system that will...<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span face="Calibri"><a href="http://gotspeech.net/blogs/michaeldunn/archive/2007/08/20/speech-server-2007-pricing-revealed.aspx">Michael Dunn</a>, one of the <a href="http://www.gotspeech.net/">gotspeech.net</a> guys, wrote the first article that I saw in public about the pricing for the new <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/uc">Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007</a>. Michael does an example configuration of a typical speech recognition system that will handle 96 ports. For the speech recognition engine, Text-to-speech, development and deployment environment the software license price comes to $700. Not $700 per port, but $700 for software for the entire server! </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span face="Calibri">That’s a little more than $7 per port. OK, that doesn’t include hardware so factor in the price of a good rack mounted server, and a VoIP gateway if you can’t talk SIP with your PBX.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span face="Calibri">Michael speculates that you could do a touch-tone application and get as many as 200 ports on a single server. Still $700. He says that’s roughly $3.50 per port for the software. “Insanely Cheap” he says. I’d agree with that! Even allowing for redundancy and extra capacity, this still slashes the price in the market for the typical speech recognition telephone self service application.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span face="Calibri">You can read more about the product at </span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/uc"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.microsoft.com/uc</span></a></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span face="Calibri">Microsoft also published two new case studies that I’m particularly happy to see, given that <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/">Gold Systems</a> did the software development on both of them.</span></p>
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<ul><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span face="Calibri">Microsoft Xbox </span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itshowcase/content/Speechxbox.mspx"><span face="Calibri">http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itshowcase/content/Speechxbox.mspx</span></a></div></li></ul>
<ul><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span face="Calibri">Customer case study (Microsoft has permission to say the customer name, but I'll just say "A well-know overnight package delivery and office services company. Click the link if you can't guess who THAT is." </span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000000579"><span face="Calibri">http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000000579</span></a></div></li></ul>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><a href="http://www.avaya.com/">Avaya</a>, another one of my business partners, began the move from "Big Iron" to software solutions many years ago, designing less proprietary hardware and relying more on industry standard hardware. It's been a smart move for them. They also saw that computers and telephones would come together and they've moved away from closed systems to open systems, being one of the earliest proponents of Unified Communications. <span face="Calibri">As I’ve said before, lower prices and more companies deploying applications is good for the industry and the consumer.</span></p>
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https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/08/searchtophone.html
About a year ago David Cohen, entrepreneur investor, and author of the ColoradoStartups blog, dropped by my office and asked if I would be interested in working with some new entrepreneurs as part of a new venture called TechStars. I...<p>About a year ago <a href="http://www.davidgcohen.com/">David Cohen</a>, entrepreneur investor, and author of the <a href="http://www.coloradostartups.com/">ColoradoStartups</a> blog, dropped by my office and asked if I would be interested in working with some new entrepreneurs as part of a new venture called <a href="http://www.techstars.org/">TechStars</a>. I love talking to entrepreneurs, especially new ones because some of their energy always rubs off, and I hope to help them avoid some of the mistakes I've made over the years as an entrepreneur.</p>
<p><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=344,height=65,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://www.terrygold.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/20/searchtophone.gif"><img title="Searchtophone" height="75" alt="Searchtophone" src="http://www.terrygold.com/t/images/2007/08/20/searchtophone.gif" width="400" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> </p>
<p>Through TechStars, I met <a href="http://searchtophone.wordpress.com/about/">Carmin Turco</a> and <a href="http://searchtophone.wordpress.com/about/">Sebastian Replanski</a>. Carmin and Seb were well on their way to success with their company <a href="http://www.searchtophone.com/">SearchToPhone</a> when they were invited to join the TechStars. Fast forward to today, and they have launched their service, received some <a href="http://gigaom.com/2007/08/16/techstars-search-to-phone-and-filtrbox-appeal-beyond-sf/">great</a> <a href="http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/08/techstars-demo-.html">press</a> and I'm happy to say that my company <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/">Gold Systems</a> and SearchToPhone have created a <a href="http://www.techrockies.com/story/0010735.html">strategic alliance</a>. Carmin talks about the TechStars experience, the SearchToPhone service and <a href="http://searchtophone.wordpress.com/2007/08/17/techstars-i-day-it-all-comes-down-to-one-good-pitch/">how Elvis showed up to help with the VC pitch</a>. Congratulations Carmin and Seb!</p>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-08-20T13:26:30-06:00Ford announces pricing on Sync
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/08/ford-announces-.html
Ford Motor Company announced pricing yesterday for their new Sync product that was developed in partnership with Microsoft Windows Automotive. It's going to be a $395 option on new Fords and will be available in the Ford Focus, Ford Edge...<p><a href="http://www.ford.com/">Ford Motor Company</a> announced pricing yesterday for their new Sync product that was developed in partnership with <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsautomotive/default.mspx">Microsoft Windows Automotive</a>. It's going to be a $395 option on new Fords and will be available in the <a href="http://www.fordvehicles.com/Cars/2008focus/">Ford Focus</a>, <a href="http://www.fordvehicles.com/crossovers/edge/">Ford Edge</a> and the <a href="http://www.lincoln.com/mkx/home.asp">Lincoln MKX</a>. It's a "fully integrated voice-activated in-car communications and entertainment system for mobile phones and digital media players" according to Mark Fields, the Ford Motor Company President of the Americas. You can see Mr. Fields and Mr. Gates talking about the Ford/Microsoft partnership and a <a href="http://www.zune-online.com/news/zune/ford-announces-sync-will-cost-395.html">promo video at the Zune-Online website</a>. Sync will be available in nine other Ford vehicles by the end of the year. You can get more information at Ford's <a href="http://www.syncmyride.com/">SyncMyRide.com</a> website too.</p>
<p>Here are some of the cool things that can be done with Sync.</p>
<ul><li>You can use speech recognition to access any track in your Zune, iPod or even a flash drive (yes, it has a USB interface). I saw a prototype in a Lincoln Navigator earlier this year and it worked perfectly. The person demoing it had a Zune full of pop music and he was taking requests from other people in the car, saying the track name and then a moment later the music started playing. I suggested "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and the guy said he didn't have any Bluegrass on his Zune, but he offered to plug mine in and show that it really would work on any device. </li>
<li>When you get in the car, Bluetooth pairs automatically (as you would expect) but if you are talking on the phone it moves the conversation from the handset to the sound system automatically so that you can keep both hands on the wheel. If you are talking on the phone when you get to work, you just pick up your cell phone and walk in and the conversation automatically moves back to the handset. (If you must talk and drive, use hands-free and be careful out there!) </li>
<li>If you get a text message to your phone, the Sync will read the text message to you over the sound system, even translating emoticons like smiley faces. This has great prank-potential and I can't wait for one of my friends to get one! Of course, they can always block me from sending them text messages, so maybe I'd better rethink that. </li>
<li>Hands free-dialing, as you would expect, and caller-id read aloud for incoming calls. </li>
<li>The video mentions conference calling, but I didn't see that demo'd and I'm not sure how it's implemented.</li></ul>
<p>I think it's great that Ford decided to release this across the line, starting with the lower-end cars. If they had made it a high-end, expensive option I think it would have died on the vine, but with this strategy I expect that a lot of people will be ordering it. Congratulations to Ford for getting ahead of a technical wave that is surely going to just get bigger over the next few years. At a price that isn't a lot higher than what some manufactures have charged for putting a 29 cent headphone jack in the dash, Ford is delivering a lot of capabilities and I'm sure there will be more to come.</p>
<p>Speaking of Fords, does anyone know where my 65 Mustang is? I sold it for $2,400 in 1977 after restoring it to what you see here. Last I heard, 25 years ago, was that a collector had put a set of red-stripe tires on it and was keeping it in a warehouse. My name is on a blank IBM punch-card underneath the carpet on the passenger side. The bill of sale says it was a 64 1/2, but I'm certain it was a 65. I'd love to get it back someday and I realize it has appreciated a bit since I sold it.</p>
<p><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=800,height=423,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://www.terrygold.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/10/terrys_65_mustang_corrected_2.jpg"><img title="Terrys_65_mustang_corrected_2" height="211" alt="Terrys_65_mustang_corrected_2" src="http://www.terrygold.com/t/images/2007/08/10/terrys_65_mustang_corrected_2.jpg" width="400" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> </p>Car ComputerSpeech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-08-10T13:22:14-06:00The gethuman standard
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/05/the_gethuman_st.html
There are amazing things happening in the world of communications, which is one reason I haven't had as much time to devote to my blog as I'd like. Technology is speeding ahead, sometimes to our frustration, but at the same...<p>There are amazing things happening in the world of communications, which is one reason I haven't had as much time to devote to my blog as I'd like. Technology is speeding ahead, sometimes to our frustration, but at the same time I can see the cost of communications continuing to drop and the ease and convenience continuing to improve. Not all of these advances involve technology though. One initiative is something called the gethuman standard. </p>
<p>The gethuman standard started with a guy named Paul English who was frustrated and feeling like he was often trapped by automated telephone systems. I've been in the business of building those systems for 16 years, and believe me I know they can be frustrating. I also believe though that with good design they can be great. What started as one guy trying to make a difference has turned into a much larger effort by individuals and corporations who have a simple belief - if you show to customers that you appreciate their business and you make it easy for them to reach you, they'll buy more stuff. (Those are my words by the way.)</p>
<p>I've been given permission to reproduce the standard here, but if you want to find out more just go to gethuman.com. I don't know of any system that completely implements the standard, but it's something to strive for. I doubt if any consumer would argue with any of the points in the standard. Here it is - feel free to comment. --terry</p>
<p>The gethuman standards have been designed with simplicity and directness as to eliminate ambiguity and enable testing and certification. There may be more than one way to accomplish each, but the result must be as follows: </p>
<ol><li>The caller must always be able to dial 0 or to say "operator" to queue for a human. </li>
<li>An accurate estimated wait-time, based on call traffic statistics at the time of the call, should always be given when the caller arrives in the queue. A revised update should be provided periodically during hold time. </li>
<li>Callers should never be asked to repeat any information (name, full account number, description of issue, etc.) provided to a human or an automated system during a call. </li>
<li>When a human is not available, callers should be offered the option to be called back. If 24 hour service is not available, the caller should be able to leave a message, including a request for a call back the following business day. Gold Standard: Call back the caller at a time that they have specified. </li>
<li>Speech applications should provide touch-tone (DTMF) fall-back. </li>
<li>Callers should not be forced to listen to long/verbose prompts. </li>
<li>Callers should be able to interrupt prompts (via dial-through for DTMF applications and/or via barge-in for speech applications) whenever doing so will enable the user to complete his task more efficiently. </li>
<li>Do not disconnect for user errors, including when there are no perceived key presses (as the caller might be on a rotary phone); instead queue for a human operator and/or offer the choice for call-back. </li>
<li>Default language should be based on consumer demographics for each organization. Primary language should be assumed with the option for the caller to change language. (i.e. English should generally be assumed for the US, with a specified key for Spanish.) Gold Standard: Remember the caller's language preference for future calls. Gold Standard: Organizations should ideally support separate toll-free numbers for each individual language. </li>
<li>All operators/representatives of the organization should be able to communicate clearly with the caller (i.e. accents should not hinder communication; representatives should have excellent diction and enunciation.) </li></ol>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-05-21T15:05:51-06:00Gold Systems wins best Speech Self-Service Application award
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/03/gold_systems_wi.html
I'm proud to announce that the Gold Systems Password Reset product was named the "Best Speech Self-Service Application" at SpeechTEK West this year. If you work in a large company, especially one that is regulated, you know that your IT...<p>I'm proud to announce that the <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/index.php?load=content&page_id=57">Gold Systems Password Reset product</a> was named the <a href="http://dmnnewswire.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=112597">"Best Speech Self-Service Application" at SpeechTEK West</a> this year. If you work in a large company, especially one that is regulated, you know that your IT department is getting more and more strict about the passwords you use and how often you change them. And for good reason - no one wants to be the next company in the news that got hacked and accidentally disclosed a bunch of credit card numbers.</p>
<p>The problem with stricter, ever-changing passwords is that it is becoming more difficult to remember all the passwords in our lives. I've heard that as many as 25% of all calls to help desks are to request that a password be reset because the user couldn't remember the right combination of letters, numbers and special characters that is now their password. Our product automates the resetting of passwords, using speech recognition and even voice authentication if you are really paranoid, it's more secure because the help desk agent doesn't ever know your password and - here's the best part - you don't have to be embarrassed to call up for the third time this month and admit to a person that you've forgotten your password again.</p>
<p>The cost of automating this is generally less than the cost of the salary of one help desk agent. Now the people can go back to solving the really hard problems like recovering the database that was accidentally deleted last night or figuring out why the wireless network isn't working in the board room. Help desk agents will always be needed, even if we can automate some of the more mundane, but still costly tasks that they do. Speaking of help desk agents and IT people - try thanking them for the work that they do. When everything is working fine, they get little credit and when it isn't, they catch hell. If nothing else you'll enjoy the startled look on their faces, because their job is difficult and often thankless.</p>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-03-22T17:59:59-06:00Hiring event Wednesday night
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/03/hiring_event_we.html
Just a quick reminder about our hiring event this Wednesday night, March 7th at the Westin in Westminster between 5:30 and 7:30 PM. Here's my original post on the event. I expect to be there along with a couple of...<p>Just a quick reminder about our hiring event this Wednesday night, March 7th at the Westin in Westminster between 5:30 and 7:30 PM. Here's <a href="http://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/02/were_hiring_gol.html">my original post on the event</a>. I expect to be there along with a couple of other people from <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/">Gold Systems.</a> If you can't make it, that's OK, drop me an email. I don't know about the other companies who are going to be there, but I'd suggest you not dress up for us - we're a Boulder software company. Enough said?</p>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-03-06T19:04:35-07:00We're hiring - Gold Systems in the News
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/02/were_hiring_gol.html
I get an email alert whenever Gold Systems is mentioned in a press release or when we show up on a website or blog. Today I received a link to a press release that Rally Software put out announcing a...<p>I get an email alert whenever <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/">Gold Systems</a> is mentioned in a press release or when we show up on a website or blog. Today I received a link to a press release that <a href="http://www.rallydev.com/">Rally Software</a> put out announcing a recruiting event that we're partnering on with a couple of other local companies. You can read the <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-28-2007/0004536588&EDATE=">press release here</a>. (I have no idea who said that Gold Systems "has been hailed as one of Colorado's biggest high-tech success," though the statement that we've "helped automate more than a billion telephone calls around the world" is probably an understatement. We can only guess at the number, but I would think it is even more than a billion.</p>
<p><strong> <span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><a href="http://www.goldsys.com/index.php?load=content&page_id=28">HELP WANTED! HELP WANTED! HELP WANTED!</a></span></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.goldsys.com/index.php?load=content&page_id=28"><img title="Link to Gold Systems Job Openings" height="213" alt="Capture" src="http://www.terrygold.com/t/images/capture.jpg" width="400" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> </p>
<p>Just making sure you're still with me. Gold Systems is looking for great people to expand our engineering and IT groups. We need a variety of people because we develop with a variety of great companies, including <a href="http://www.avaya.com/">Avaya</a>, <a href="http://www.cisco.com/">Cisco</a> and <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/speech/default.mspx">Microsoft</a>. </p>
<p>Ideally you know exactly what we do, you have experience and can step in and be happy and productive very quickly, but we consider people without industry experience too. You don't have to live in Boulder, Colorado either, but if you've always wanted to live here, nows your chance. We have remote people all over the country and while you'd miss our snow, we can make that work too.</p>
<p>I've written a lot about the <a href="http://www.terrygold.com/t/entrepreneurship/index.html">importance of culture and values on this blog</a> and on the <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/index.php?load=content&page_id=26">Gold Systems website</a>. Here's the deal though - it takes work, it's a constant challenge and not everyone is or will be happy at Gold Systems, or any other company for that matter. We've got more work than ever before and our market and our business is changing in a big way that I'm very excited about. Check us out, and if you think you could be a part of what we're doing, <a href="mailto:tgold@goldsys.com">email me</a> and I'll make sure you get considered. Or just stop by the recruiting <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-28-2007/0004536588&EDATE=">event</a> on March 7th, between 5:30 and 7:30 PM at the Westin in Westminster. </p>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-02-28T11:23:38-07:00Marshall Harrison is joining Gold Systems!
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/02/marshall_harris.html
Marshall Harrison, one of the gotspeech.net founders, has joined Gold Systems! Marshall was the first, if not THE only Microsoft Speech Server MVP and I'm really looking forward to having him join the team. According to his bio at gotspeech.net,...<p><a href="http://gotspeech.net/blogs/marshallharrison/default.aspx">Marshall Harrison</a>, one of the gotspeech.net founders, <a href="http://gotspeech.net/blogs/marshallharrison/archive/2007/02/23/i-m-unemployed.aspx">has joined Gold Systems</a>! </p>
<p>Marshall was the first, if not THE only Microsoft Speech Server MVP and I'm really looking forward to having him join the team. According to his <a href="http://gotspeech.net/blogs/marshallharrison/about.aspx">bio at gotspeech.net</a>, he's now an MVP on the Office Communications Server. Marshall and I have been exchanging emails and comments on our blogs for a year or two and he's very enthusiastic about the Unified Communications market. He's a engineer who thinks about how people really use technology.</p>
<p>Welcome Marshall!</p>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-02-25T16:07:22-07:00Computer voices
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2007/01/computer_voices.html
If you are a geek like me, and you hear voices in your head, are they computer generated voices? No need to answer, but I have been thinking about computer generated speech recently. A few weeks ago I remembered that...<p>If you are a geek like me, and you hear voices in your head, are they computer generated voices? No need to answer, but I have been thinking about computer generated speech recently.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago I remembered that my dad had brought home a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45_record">45 rpm record</a> when I was a kid and he was very excited to say that it was the first recording of a computer singing a song. I may actually have the record, but the recording is still available on the web and it has an interesting history. It turns out that it wasn't IBM who made the first computer sing, but rather a researcher named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Mathews">Max Mathews</a> who worked at . . . AT&T Bell Labs, which is where I worked as a contractor before leaving to start <a href="http://www.goldsys.com/">Gold Systems</a>. A shiver just went down my spine to think how my dad handed me that record so many years ago, and now I've worked at Bell Labs and continue today to be involved with speech recognition and applications that use speech synthesis. And to this day, my company works with <a href="http://www.avaya.com/">Avaya</a>, the grandchild of AT&T.</p>
<p>But the coincidences continue - my friend <a href="http://vernawilder.typepad.com/out_of_the_cube/">Verna</a> sent me a link to what <a href="http://www.saynotocrack.com/index.php/2007/01/13/the-secret-musician-in-your-office/">may be the first scanner that plays music</a>. Mostly because she knows I'm a geek and a musician, so what could be better? Why do people spend time doing things like this? Because they can and who knows what it will lead to. I'm sure people asked Mr. Mathews why he was wasting his time and what must have been very expensive computer resources to get a computer to sing a song.</p>
<p>And now for the best coincidence of all. A few weeks ago my sister and I were trading songs names and memories via email. She remembered an old favorite song book, which I found used on amazon.com and ordered just a minute or two before she was ready to send it to me as a gift. This book was published in 1952 and it has a great foreword that talks about the songs that were sung in America around the Civil War and the turn of the century. (And to me, the turn of the century still means going from the 1800's to the 1900's) I received the book a week later (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/FIRESIDE-BOOK-FAVORITE-AMERICAN-SONGS/dp/B000E12SIW/sr=8-1/qid=1169917242/ref=sr_1_1/002-2661638-0801614?ie=UTF8&s=books">thanks amazon.com and an independent book seller somewhere!</a>) and started to flip through it. Guess what the VERY FIRST SONG was in the book? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Bell">Daisy Bell (A bicycle built for two)</a> by Harry Dacre. That's the song that the computer sang, thanks to Bell Labs, that I listened to as a kid and wondered about what other amazing things a computer could do. </p>
<p>Here's a site with more information on the <a href="http://chris.kom.com/daisybell.html">song</a>. According to that page, Alexander Graham Bell also used the song in a demo, so that's probably where Mr. Mathews got the idea to use it in his research. <a href="http://csounds.com/mathews/index.html">Here's more on Mr. Mathews</a> - he looks like a fun guy! And I just found <a href="http://www.vortex.com/av">a link to the very same recording I listened to as a kid</a>. Scroll down until you see "Daisy". The singing only happens after a nice long intro by a second computer that was generating the music. You see, it does matter what music your kid listens to.</p>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2007-01-27T10:20:33-07:00Tech-time flies
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2006/12/techtime_flies.html
My friend and Editor-at-Large, Verna Wilder, writes about her first job as an operator at The Phone Company in San Francisco. Verna always tells a great story. It wasn't that long ago that long distance calls were exotic and expensive....<p>My friend and Editor-at-Large, <a href="http://vernawilder.typepad.com/out_of_the_cube/">Verna Wilder</a>, <a href="http://vernawilder.typepad.com/out_of_the_cube/2006/12/number_please.html">writes about her first job as an operator</a> at The Phone Company in San Francisco. Verna always tells a great story. It wasn't that long ago that long distance calls were exotic and expensive. Another friend of mine was telling me about being in college and how his uncle would allow my friend's girlfriend to use his phone on Sundays so they could keep in touch. He said the thought of it would help get him through the week, and he wonders if college students today are missing something with their instant communications.</p>
<p>I'm still fascinated by the idea that by dialing a series of numbers, I can make a bell ring almost anywhere in the world. Yes, I'm easily amused. Of course now I don't have to "dial" or punch buttons - I can just say the name of the person I want to talk to (assuming they are in my contacts) and I'll be connected. Hmm, I think we've just come full circle, haven't we? </p>
<p><a href="http://www.terrygold.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/crank_phone.jpg"><img title="Crank_phone" height="141" alt="Crank_phone" src="http://www.terrygold.com/t/images/crank_phone.jpg" width="117" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px; WIDTH: 117px; HEIGHT: 141px" /></a> </p>Speech RecognitionTerry Gold2006-12-05T12:33:23-07:00First post for the Kauffman Foundation and a quick update
https://www.terrygold.com/t/2006/10/first_post_for_.html
I just made my first post to the Kauffman Foundation's eVenturing blog. If you are interested in entrepreneurship, I hope you'll subscribe to their feed. Ken Berlack does a daily post of interesting articles, blogs and news about entrepreneurship, and...<p>I just made my first post to the <a href="http://www.kauffman.org/">Kauffman</a> Foundation's <a href="http://eventuring.kauffman.org/">eVenturing</a> blog. If you are interested in entrepreneurship, I hope you'll <a href="http://http//eventuring.kauffman.org/eShip/appmanager/eVenturing/eVenturingDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=eShip_rss">subscribe to their feed</a>. Ken Berlack does a daily post of interesting articles, blogs and news about entrepreneurship, and he just did a series of posts about his time last week at DEMOfall '06.</p>
<p>I've made some more progress on the FJ Car Computer project. Streaming Internet radio (lookout XM!) and Virtual Earth satellite overlays on the navigation screen. More details later.</p>
<p>Last week I went three days straight without touching my keyboard, except to login first thing in the morning. The rest of the time I used the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/speech.mspx">new speech recognition capabilities built into Microsoft Vista</a>, the next version of Windows. I answered all of my emails, wrote a couple of documents, installed software and (get this) even edited my computer's registry - all with my voice. I can still probably type faster, but it would be a close race.</p>
<p>Finally, this weekend I wrote some code for the first time in a long time. It was a lot of fun and it might even be useful. More on that in another post.</p>Car ComputerEntrepreneurshipSpeech RecognitionTerry Gold2006-10-02T22:37:25-06:00