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Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

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Re: Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

#261

Post by ocdtrekkie »

raobit wrote: post #256
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bear in mind, Nuance is often the voice technology behind other companies' speech-based products too. Nuance technology originally powered Siri, for example.

Can you link some source of nuance powering siri, i think SRI was where it was built

SRI built Siri using Nuance for the speech components, and Nuance continued to be used for Siri under Apple: https://techcrunch.com/2011/10/05/apple-siri-nuance/ https://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/30/nuance-confirms-i...

Re: Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

#262

Post by ZuLuuuuuu »

fakedang wrote: post #119
FireBeyond wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious who you think is actually out there laboring under the assumption that healthcare becomes absolutely, and literally, free?

A lot of Europeans in the lower taxpaying tiers who love to shit on Americans (especially when the American healthcare system has been getting so much coverage the past decade).

That is not reality, that is what American right thinks about European people. We of course know that we are paying for healthcare with our taxes, but we also know that in the end what we pay is lower than what we would pay without a government healthcare system. So we chose this healthcare system consciously.

Re: Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

#265

Post by raobit »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #60

Oh this is big, Nuance is not very well known to the public but they are indeed very big in speech recognition. We used their solution with automated support systems.

True, i came to know people appreciating it here that it is better than siri,alexa in terms of speech recognition, is it really that good. Support system you mean IVR?

Re: Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

#266

Post by ocdtrekkie »

qntmfred wrote: post #238
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bear in mind, Nuance is often the voice technology behind other companies' speech-based products too. Nuance technology originally powered Siri, for example.

Nuance itself was actually spun out of an organization called SRI (note the resemblance to the name Siri)

This is incorrect. Nuance was a company that originated decades ago, SRI did build Siri, using Nuance's speech technology, but Nuance itself did not spin out of SRI.

Re: Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

#267

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

marktangotango wrote: post #85
tootie wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure Nuance also does the Comcast Xfinity voice remotes. They are actually really well done. And it's a humongous customer to have your claws in.

I have this and it really is quite remarkable. The entire voice integration in the x1 set top box is really polished. Other than the occasional "wow, this is pretty good for comcast!" I hadn't given it much thought until now.

Can you remove the ads from the EPG?

Re: Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

#268

Post by perardi »

bombcar wrote: post #190
dalbasal wrote: post #188

I think a lot of big acquisitions make "sense," given the current market. The most successful companies have lots of cash, high share prices, and amazing cash cows. They could borrow for (almost) free, so resources are practically unlimited. Their R&D is already well funded. Most of their big, growth oriented endeavours are not cash-constrained. There are usually no factories to build or production to scale up. Googl…

Acquiring is a simple way to show the Board/Shareholders that you're "doing something" - but I suspect it's rarely very successful in the long run. Unless you acquire a business that ACTUALLY provides some synergies you're just on the path of transitioning from a successful company to a poor imitation of Berkshire Hathaway. It does have the advantage that you can "spin off" your acquisitions once they fail to do anyt…

Apple has had some decent ones. P.A. Semi, notably. And for $278 million dollars, the ROI on that was ludicrous.

But overall, yes. I can think of so many large-scale acquisitions that didn't go so swimmingly.

  - AOL/Time-Warner
  - Ford/its stable of luxury brands like Jaguar and Land Rover
  - Compaq/HP
  - Daimler/Chrysler
It seems like these “big” mergers tend to now show the synergies people promise. Maybe it’s just too much culture to integrate.

Re: Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

#269

Post by riahi »

conanbatt wrote: post #184
16bytes wrote: post #63

For those confused, this acquisition is due in large part by Nuance's dominance in healthcare related products. From Nuance's last earnings release[1]: “We are very pleased with the strong start to the fiscal year, as we delivered revenue and EPS above our guidance range expectations,” said Mark Benjamin, Chief Executive Officer at Nuance. “We continued to advance our strategic initiatives, accelerating our cloud tra…

Oh wow. The Dragon headset is a very strange product space. It is used by non-tech savvy doctors to avoid having to type into the EMR.

It’s not just the non tech savvy. It’s substantially faster to dictate text than type it, especially if your hands are occupied with the computer doing something else (ie interpreting radiology exams, dictating a treatment course or visit note while simultaneously reviewing labs).

Re: Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20B

#270

Post by tootie »

ryanSrich wrote: post #131
tootie wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure Nuance also does the Comcast Xfinity voice remotes. They are actually really well done. And it's a humongous customer to have your claws in.

It’s literally better than Siri. I don’t know how, but it is. I’d say it’s even better than Alexa in terms of its ability to recognize things I say.

The biggest leg up they have is that their product works in a very controlled domain. Siri is out there trying to be a complete interactive AI human and failing miserably. The Xfinity remote just controls your TV and does it smashingly. I found the Alexa-driven voice control on my FireTV to also be a pleasant experience compared to regular Alexa.
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