Don't know who made it in FONX today before close, but here is some news....don't see how this drove it though...must be something coming in the AM....LHSP purchased, or is in the process of purchasing a division of FONX....
Lance is gonna kill me because he alerted me to it, and I got filled at .75....will be interesting in the morning to see what happens...
LHSP : LERNOUT & HAUSPIE SPEECH PDS (NASDAQ) All Headlines
National Semiconductor and Lernout & Hauspie Join Forces to Enable Speech-Activated Information Appliances
Companies To Accelerate Adoption of Speech Processing Technology in Consumer Electronic Devices
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 1999-- Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, N.V. (NASDAQ: LHSP; EASDAQ:LHSP) and National Semiconductor Corporation(R) (NYSE: NSM) today announced they have signed an agreement to support and accelerate advanced speech processing technology in the emerging information appliance market. This agreement brings L&H's full complement of speech technologies together with National's expertise in silicon and system design and integration. The two companies will jointly develop new uses and applications for L&H's automatic speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS) and speech compression technologies. National and L&H plan to enable voice-activated computing on a variety of next-generation consumer electronics devices, such as personal Internet access devices like National's WebPAD(TM), automobile PCs, handheld devices and other emerging information appliances.
"Speech technology has the potential to break down technology barriers, such as need to use keyboards and other manual input devices. In this way, it can revolutionize industries such as the information appliance market," said Gaston Bastiaens, president and CEO of L&H. "By eliminating manual input techniques for information appliances, speech technology not only helps reduce the size of a device but more importantly gives end-users the freedom, productivity and convenience of communicating naturally with that tool."
The information appliance market is expected to rapidly grow and expand over the next few years, and some, like International Data Corp.'s Kevin Hause, predict worldwide shipments of these devices to reach nearly 65 million units by 2003. As these appliances become more readily available, users will be likely to select the smallest, most convenient devices available. Because it can eliminate the need for slower, larger and more cumbersome forms of input such as keyboards and other manual approaches, speech-processing technology will probably become the preferred interface for such small-sized devices. A speech interface can be used while driving, performing surgery, welding, working on a car or any other task where vision-free, hands-free information access would be safer or more convenient.
"The voice is the ideal human interface, and soon it will no longer be necessary for us to modify our natural behaviors in order to communicate with machines," said Brian Halla, CEO and chairman of National Semiconductor. "L&H is helping modify these machines to understand us, instead of the other way around. This will be a bigger revolution than the personalization of electronic devices we've seen in the past dozen years. Children born today might never use a keyboard in their lives."
L&H offers a full complement of speech and language solutions, including application development expertise, TTS technology, digital speech compression and a family of vocabulary recognizers, ranging from its small footprint, small vocabulary engines to its new large vocabulary engine. Its solutions and technologies are available on multiple platforms in multiple languages. Its core technologies are not only integrated into its own diverse product offerings, but also are embedded into a wide range of products developed by some of the world's best-known companies in the telecommunications, computer/multimedia, consumer electronics and automotive industries.
National announced its new Geode(TM) family of highly integrated processors in July of 1999, and plans to optimize future Geode solutions to support L&H's speech processing technology. The Geode family offers customers a tailored feature set for each of National's target segments in the information appliance market - personal access devices like the WebPAD(TM) reference design that National introduced in November 1998, thin clients such as Windows-based terminals, and set-top boxes.
About National Semiconductor Corporation
National Semiconductor provides system-on-a-chip solutions for the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of the-art digital technology, the company's chips lead many sectors of the personal computer, communications, and consumer markets. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National has annual sales of $2 billion and 11,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.
About Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie (L&H) is a global leader in advanced speech and language solutions for vertical markets, computers, automobiles, telecommunications, embedded products, consumer goods and the Internet. The company is making the speech user interface (SUI) the keystone of simple, convenient interaction between humans and technology, and is using advanced translation technology to break down language barriers. The company provides a wide range of offerings, including: customized solutions for corporations; core speech technologies marketed to OEMs; end user and retail applications for continuous speech products in horizontal and vertical markets; and document creation, human and machine translation services, Internet translation offerings, and linguistic tools. L&H's products and services originate in four basic areas: automatic speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS), digital speech and music compression (SMC) and text-to-text (translation). For more information, please visit Lernout & Hauspie on the World Wide Web at www.lhs.com or www.lhsl.com.
This Press Release contains forward-looking information, including but not limited to statements involving L&H's view of the evolution of speech and language technology in the healthcare industry, that L&H's products will work according to specifications and that such products will be successful in the market, and that its partnerships will be successful. Factors which could cause material differences to these forward looking statements include known and unknown risks, including without limitation: the uncertainty of new product development, including the risk that newly introduced products may contain undetected errors or defects or otherwise not perform as anticipated, the early stage of development of the speech and language technology markets, uncertainty of market growth, rapid technological change and intense competition, as well as other risks set forth in L&H's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. L&H cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. L&H expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the L&H's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstance on which any such statement is based.
Note to Editors: All product names and trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks of L&H and its respective owners. National Semiconductor is a registered trademark and Geode and WebPAD are trademarks of National Semiconductor Corporation.
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