Like most technical specialties, the speech applications industry has a large number of official standards. Fortunately, many of these standards are widely implemented. The implementations aren’t perfectly consistent, of course, but they’re close enough that at Voxify we’ve been able to get our speech applications platform to run on different VoiceXML browsers and ASR and… Read More »
It’s not exactly Schoolhouse Rock, okay, it’s not remotely as snappy as Conjunction Junction, but there’s something you gotta like about the Singing Physics Professor. Listen to his off key, falsetto, baritone voice accompanied by baritone ukele in an interview on NPR.org. Many more songs are available at his website. I don’t know about you,… Read More »
Downtown Oakland is really turning into a vibrant area with great restaurants and bars. It’s always had a couple good restaurants and bars, as well as the Paramount Theater, but lately it seems like a new, great place has opened everytime I go down there. Last night, we discovered the Crown Wok Restaurant. It recently… Read More »
[via Boing Boing RIP: Judy Scott, amazing sculptor with Downs’ Syndrome. Sadly, Judith Scott has apparently passed away recently. She was a very talented sculptor who worked on her art at the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland. Judith wrapped yarn and fabric around ordinary objects to create large, mysteriously shaped creations. Like many of… Read More »
After nine weeks at the Audi dealership, my TT has finally come home. On January 5, I dropped off my car at the dealership because the check engine light was staying on, the car was running rough, and at the very end, the engine wouldn’t start at all. The diagnosis – mice had eaten through… Read More »
Mmmm, toasted French oak barrels. A little bit woody on the finish and a tad fibrous, but still … No, we didn’t taste the barrels at the Russian River Wine Road Barrel Tasting, but we did taste an exceedingly large number of delicious wines that were still in the barrels. At David Coffaro’s winery, the… Read More »
Thanks to my brother, who always has his finger on the pulse of amusing things drifting across the internet, I’m able to share a link to a video of possibly the greatest moment in curling history. Or maybe not. Hell, I don’t know. I’m an American. All I know is that it’s pretty funny listening… Read More »
I’m a relatively recent convert to taco truck cuisine. Now that I dine at least twice a month on tasty meals obtained from taco trucks, I wish I had started eating at them long ago. A story appeared today in the Oakland Tribune hailing some of my new, favorite dining spots. Two, in particular are… Read More »
When I first read about podcasting music, or even podcasting talk with a little bit of music in the background, I didn’t think about the copyright and licensing implications. I also didn’t consider what happens when a podcast becomes popular, but the RIAA has shown with webcasting that they won’t stop until they have extracted… Read More »
I finally got around to watching The Triplets of Belleville. Before the film started, all I knew was that it had been nominated for Oscars for best animated feature and original song, was French-made, and was kind of quirky. I had absolutely no idea what the plot was. If I had only known just how… Read More »