University researchers in Hong Kong have developed speech recognition technology that they say can run on less processing power than current systems, raising the possibility of mobile phones that understand a wide variety of commands even in noisy settings.
The auditory spectrum-based speech feature (ASSF) approach might be found in commercial products in three to five years, opening the door to applications such as voice-controlled Web surfing on mobile phones or PDAs, the team of researchers from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Shanghai University said.
AMD readies mobile Athlon chip for battle with Intel
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) is set to take a major competitive step against rival Intel Corp. when a pair of AMD customers release notebooks powered by the first mobile version of the Athlon processor by late March.
While AMD has gained ground against Intel on the desktop, the chip maker continues to lack a high-end product for the consumer and business notebook markets. Sources close to Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp., however, confirmed that they both plan to release notebooks with AMD’s mobile Athlon chip in the March time frame. AMD remains tight-lipped on the exact release date of the mobile Athlon and on the speeds of the new chip. The company would only commit to a late first-quarter release date at this time, according to an AMD spokeswoman.
A source close to Hewlett-Packard shed more light on the situation, saying HP plans to use the mobile Athlon in both its consumer Pavilion notebooks and its OmniBook business notebooks. The high-end machines would use a 900MHz mobile Athlon chip, the HP source said. Likewise, a Compaq source admitted strong interest in the mobile Athlon, saying some notebooks with at least a 900MHz processor would arrive by March.
