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        As we all learn to navigate the new normal in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, one area that has seen repeated debates in the last few weeks is education. Should schools hold in-person learning? What is the safest way to move forward? Can virtual learning be effective? There are probably as many solutions to this hurdle as there are schools, with some families even calling distracting kids with iPads education. There does not seem to be a right way to go about reopening schools or if they should be open at all now that the fall has rolled around. Rather than add to that debate, we will discuss XR (eXtended Realities) as an alternative to in-person learning.

      With many companies continuing to opt for remote working environments, some still search for ways to make their once in-person, now remote meetings feel a bit more interactive. As we have explored before, Social XR can help users feel more connected in our recreational and professional lives. These applications can help you feel immersed, allow you to reach a wider audience and help you stay focused. Ideally, they combat meeting and screen fatigue, lifting spirits, and most importantly, they go beyond what is physically possible by enhancing/augmenting reality.

        While many feel as though voice technology is a newer innovation. However- the study, development, and implementation of voice and speech recognition technologies has been going on for the last 70 years. This article attempts to provide an overview of the history of voice technology, and how it has developed since its creation. In 1952, the first speech recognition system designed by Bell Laboratories was known as the “Audrey” system and could only recognize single voice digits spoken aloud (source). “The machine understood digits 0-9 is speakers paused in between, though it would have to adapt to each user before it could capture their speech with reasonable accuracy” (source). 

      In recent years, automated speech recognition (ASR) systems have become an integral part of many applications; creating a world of virtual assistants (VAs) who live in our mobile devices, smart home applications, and vehicle-systems. What makes ASR systems special is its ability to quickly and accurately convert spoken language to text. For speech recognition to work requires sophisticated machine-learning algorithms capable of converting all of the nuances and complexities of spoken language into actionable commands in real-time. This is possible thanks to deep learning algorithms ability to digest large datasets and create new strategies for improved accuracy.  

         Voice AI has seen incredible growth over the last few years and has become a part of our everyday lives. Voice Technology not only takes into account how people search for information with their voice through smart voice assistants, or the ability to execute tasks through voice commands, it also takes into account how to aid a person with accessibility needs in his or her daily life in order to ensure equal access to the same experiences as people without accessibility needs.

Let’s be honest. For years now, automotive infotainment systems have really not been the greatest. The first infotainment system was first unveiled in the Buick Century T-Type and Riviera of 1986, called CRT (touch screen cathode ray tube). Yes, car radio, trip data, and climate control with touchscreen 30+ years ago. Talk about ahead of its time.

      As we adjust to the at-home “new normal” in the face of COVID-19, we have all come to depend heavily on mobile devices to manage our basic needs. In response, a greater number of companies are transitioning resources towards finding new and innovative ways to reach customers at home. Of the latest mobile technology trends, augmented reality (AR) has emerged as an innovative new way for businesses to showcase products and services. With mobile AR experiences, the customer is able to interact and experience products that are digitally represented in three-dimensional space. The value in being able to offer this feature to customers is more important than ever as many do not feel safe returning to stores, but still want the ‘try-before-you-buy’ experience.

      Last week, we discussed the way in which voice technology has transformed from a nascent technology relegated to the world of science fiction, to something that people increasingly utilize on a day to day basis. As we delve deeper into the world of voice technology, there is a great deal of jargon and terminology to keep straight. In order to help make that task a little easier, and so you all know what we are talking about, we have created this handy guide to breakdown and help you understand the most commonly used voice technology vocabulary. 

      What was once a nascent technology is now becoming more mainstream, now the adoption of voice technology using assistants via smart speakers and other voice-enabled devices has made a leap over the last few years. About one in four (24%) US adults 18+ own a smart speaker (around 60 million people) and U.S. households with smart speakers own an average of 2.6 smart speakers. Many more devices such as smartphones have voice-enabled and this presents a major opportunity for brands to tap into. 

     Q&A with Leap Motion CTO David Holz in AltspaceVR 

       As more and more people across the world continue to stay locked down indoors, we are seeing experimentation in how we communicate and stay social with friends,  family and colleagues. From a work perspective, we are seeing what the NYT defined as the “World's Largest Work-From-Home Experiment”. While from a recreational perspective we are seeing more and more apps rise to the occasion and develop creative solutions to keep us connected (and quite frankly, sane). Here at Key Lime Interactive, we’ve decided to be proactive about the emerging trends in XR that we were seeing in the marketspace and optimize our XR strategy. That’s why we’d like to explore the ways  XR, such as Social XR, can be used as a communication tool in both our work and recreational lives.

    Since the inception of Key Lime Interactive as a user experience research and design agency, the company has come a long way to be a leader in the market. We are trusted by 100+ of the world’s most admired companies to help them improve the user experience for their products and services. An important pillar of the company’s core values is discerning the bigger picture and deciphering the puzzle. Abiding by this core value, the company’s thought leaders and strategists took a deep dive into understanding what elements of emerging technology will play a pivotal role in shaping 2020 and the new decade that lies ahead of us.

      Leveraging the collective brainpower of the digital experience experts on the team, the company embarked on a new chapter to tackle the exponential rise in influence of eXtended Reality (XR) in the emerging technology market space and guide the company’s growing list of influential clients on how to deliver user experience value through the optimized use of XR.