Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : The Critical Investing Workshop -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mannie who wrote (2700)	2/5/2000 7:22:00 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35685

Hi Scott, I am a long time investor in General Magic (GMGC). GMGC will not be providing wireless services to GM & Toyota. They will be providing the Voice User Interface or VUI (much more than speech recognition) to allow handsfree access to the Onstar Virtual Advisor service. GM has partnered with AOL to provide content (internet access) & Bell Atlantic to provide the wireless services. GM plans on having the Onstar service in 1 million vehicles this year & eventually in almost every vehicle it produces. Toyota has acknowledged it will offer the Onstar service in the cars it sells in the US for now. Besides the VUI, GMGC will allow you to access your e-mails & reply to them while in your car & it will allow you to use your voice to access content on the internet as well as use your voice to initiate & place calls. Handsfree access in your car while you keep your eyes on the road & your hands on the wheel. ...... General Magic's magicTalk voice user interface is clearly unique in the industry. It's an intelligent voice user interface that, like a graphical user interface, allows users to interact more easily with complex data. This technology is a mix of voice, personality and brains that gives users a pleasant, efficient interaction, whether they are requesting a stock quote from the Portico virtual assistant or replying to an e-mail from the myTalk service. magicTalk is both easy to use --- no training is needed, no special commands have to be learned -- as well as sophisticated enough to handle multiple content sources including the Web, desktop software products, voicemail messages, etc. Occasionally, magicTalk will even interject a sense of humor into the conversation to keep the interaction fresh. In April 1999, General Magic introduced our voice agent technology, code-named Kenya. Agent technology -- the concept that a piece of intelligent software code can work on a user's behalf to perform specific tasks -- has been around for awhile. In fact, General Magic was one of the first agent pioneers in the early 1990s. With Kenya, we've taken the agent concept much further by integrating it with the voice capabilities of magicTalk. Voice agents can monitor and act on Web content on an individual's behalf, and what's more, they can call a user when they have updates or need the user's input on important matters. This allows users to benefit from Web content virtually any time, all through the convenience of their own voice. With a Kenva agent on the job, there'd be no need to lug around a laptop just to stay in touch with a favorite Web site when traveling..... generalmagic.com FWIW, GMGC & QCOM are also partners. WirelessKnowledge (JV between QCOM & MSFT) partnered with GMGC to provide the VUI (from the magicTalk platform) to WK's Revolv service. I can see where QCOM's acquisition of SnapTrack could be used by Bell Atlantic to implement their GPS chip into cell phones to allow full use of the Onstar platform in a cell phone. Onstar. Also Scott, I use the free myTalk e-mail service mytalk.com . It is great. You can access it like any e-mail over the web. However, you can access it over the phone, toll free & have your e-mails read to you. You can also reply to the e-mails & a .wav file is sent to the sender. One other feature is the free short long distance call feature. Just tell the VUI the phone number to dial & you get a free 2 minute call anywhere in the US. You can set it up so you can tell myTalk to call the person who sent you an e-mail anywhere in the US for free (2 minutes). I have found it to be invaluable & more useful than any other e-mail system. Sorry, but I am quite excited about the potential of VUI/Kenya. This post was not intended to hype a stock FWIW. This Yankee will go back & sit in my corner again ;-) w2