Wednesday July 15, 8:46 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
General Magic Partners With Leading Authorities To Instill magicTalk With Human-like
Personality
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 1998--General Magic (NASDAQ:GMGC - news) today announced it has entered into an exclusive
agreement with Byron Reeves, Ph.D., and Clifford Nass, Ph.D., recognized experts in social psychology research from Stanford University and co-authors of The
Media Equation, a seminal text on how people interact with computers and new media. Reeves and Nass have teamed with General Magic to develop the
''personality'' for the Company's intelligent voice user interface (VUI), called magicTalk(tm), the patent-pending platform for the forthcoming Portico(tm) virtual
assistant service.
The magicTalk personality is a key element of the Portico service and is designed to make the user's experience natural, easy and efficient. Users will be able to
interact with their virtual assistants in much the same way they would interact with a human being. The personality developed by Reeves, Nass and General Magic is
one of the key defining characteristics of a second generation virtual assistant, and Portico is the only service to incorporate a fully developed personality. General
Magic is expected to offer several different personalities by the end of next year.
In addition to working with Reeves and Nass, General Magic is also collaborating with Maz Kessler and Robby Kilgore, founders of FunArts, to develop, script
and produce the magicTalk interface with the human-like personality. Grammy-award winners Kessler and Kilgore have 15 years of experience at the forefront of
art and technology. In addition to writing, producing and performing for major recording artists such as The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Madonna, Kessler
and Kilgore have designed and produced agent interfaces for leading technology companies, including Microsoft.
''Personality development clearly differentiates the Portico service from first generation products,'' said Steve Markman, president, CEO and chairman of General
Magic, Inc. ''Byron and Cliff are well-recognized as the authorities on how people interact with new media, and Maz and Robby are experts in creating technology
interfaces that are personable and approachable. This combination has produced a magicTalk personality that is the foundation of Portico, and its uniqueness will
help provide Portico subscribers with an on-going experience with the service that is second to none.''
Defining The Personality
Working with Reeves and Nass as well as FunArts, General Magic has defined and implemented a number of patent-pending characteristics necessary for a virtual
assistant to achieve a human-like personality. These characteristics include:
Personality type that is well-defined and evident in the assistant's vocabulary, tone of voice and sentence construction. To achieve this, the virtual assistant's
remarks are professionally scripted, performed and recorded, but are not menu driven.
Variety in the way a virtual assistant expresses or recognizes a thought. When speaking, the virtual assistant will randomly vary its speech responses (''sure'' in
addition to ''yes'') and use temporal words (''good morning'' in addition to ''hello''). When listening, the virtual assistant will recognize various ways of
expressing similar ideas (''Read my mail,'' ''Do I have messages?'' and ''Is there mail for me?'').
Politeness while speaking by using ''please'' or ''thank you,'' proper names and using a manner and tone that is pleasant to the user. The assistant should also
recognize polite phrases (''Please read my mail,'' in addition to ''Read my mail'').
Helpfulness by delivering shorter prompts as the user spends more time on the system, help messages that provide more detail with increased difficulty, and
coaching upon request.
A sense of humor that is interjected, at times, into the conversation to keep the interaction fresh.
A selection of virtual assistant ''types'' that a subscriber can select or ''hire.'' These candidates may differ in gender, personality type, or both. By the end of
1999, Portico is expected to offer a selection of different personalities and both genders.
''The voice user interface needs to be confident, capable and intelligent to the user,'' said Byron Reeves. ''People need to feel comfortable with the experience. If
the interface expresses personality, people will interact in a human-like manner -- which is the most natural interaction of all. This level of attention to the
development of a personality in a voice interface is long-awaited and a key to the user's acceptance.''
Developing The Personality
Working with Kessler and Kilgore of FunArts, General Magic took these desired traits and produced a voice user interface with human-like personality. FunArts
scripted statements, auditioned actors and recorded the voice for magicTalk.
''The voice reveals certain things that can be hidden in other forms of communication. For instance, gender, competence, intelligence, likability are all instantly
revealed in the voice of the character,'' said Maz Kessler, co-founder of FunArts. ''In addition, for the magicTalk interface, the personality had to be dynamic
enough to interact in one-on-one conversations with users who are non-predictable.''
magicTalk currently includes more than 5,000 responses and helpful hints such as ''I have your address book open. How may I help you?'' or ''Where would you
like your calls forwarded?'' Each response was professionally scripted, rehearsed and recorded to invoke personality traits identified by Reeves and Nass.
About the Portico Service
Designed for today's mobile professional work force, the Portico service enables users to access, retrieve and redistribute information across computer and
telephone networks using any telephone and a normal speaking voice. A second generation virtual assistant, Portico integrates voice mail, email, address books and
calendars as well as content available on the Internet, such as company news and stock quotes. Information may be accessed over any telephone using magicTalk,
General Magic's intelligent, natural language voice user interface, or through a standard Web browser.
In accordance with U.S. securities law, General Magic notes that this press release contains forward-looking statements. There are risks that may cause actual
results to vary materially. These risks include, but are not limited to, the challenges inherent in the development and delivery of complex technologies; market
acceptance of the Company's Portico service; the Company's dependence on establishing distribution relationships; the Company's ability to respond to competitive
pressures and the Company's reliance on attracting, retaining and motivating key technical, marketing and management personnel. These and other risk factors are
detailed in General Magic's 1997 Form 10-K, and first quarter 1998 Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About General Magic
General Magic offers integrated voice and data applications making communication and access to information easy and convenient for people, no matter where they
are. The Company's development efforts are founded on its patented agent technology, innovative user-interface and communication-centric designs to provide
simple, yet effective ways for people to keep in touch with the information they need to be successful. The Company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For
more information on magicTalk, the Portico Service or General Magic, please visit the Company's Web site at generalmagic.com.
About Reeves and Nass
Byron Reeves is the Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication, and Clifford Nass is Associate Professor of Communication, both at Stanford University. They
are co-directors of the ''Social Responses to Communication Technologies'' project at the Center for the Study of Language and Information. They are consultants
to industry in computing and new media.
About FunArts
Founded in August 1996 by Maz Kessler and Robby Kilgore, Fundamental Arts brings world class creativity to the design process, leveraging the expertise, talent
and relationships that have been developed in over fifteen years of experience in the interactive arts. FunArts provides all the services that are necessary to bring
characters to life and successfully integrate them into any environment. Combining expertise in agent user interface, production and design, creative vision and
technological innovation, FunArts designs compelling synthetic actors for a broad range of products. For more information, visit the company's website at
funarts.com.
Good luck
Tim |
