Voice Your Questions to Google

After some rather strange delays, Google has released a free app for iPhone users which allows good ‘ole human speech to ask it the important questions in life, such as “Where is the closest cash dispensing machine?” and “Driving directions to the red light district”.

From the IHT article:

Pushing ahead in the decades-long effort to get computers to
understand human speech, Google researchers have added sophisticated
voice recognition technology to the company’s search software for the
Apple iPhone.

Users of the free application, which Apple is
expected to make available as soon as Friday through its iTunes store,
can place the phone to their ear and ask virtually any question, like
“Where’s the nearest Starbucks?” or “How tall is Mount Everest?” The
sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google’s servers,
which try to determine the words spoken and pass them along to the
Google search engine.