One of the exciting announcements of today’s Google I/O was their preview of speech integration into their Chrome browser.  So instead of typing keywords into a search box you will actually be able to use conversational speech to request information…and the browser can speak and show the answer to you!

People communicate with each other by conversation, not by typing keywords — and we’ve been hard at work to make Google understand and answer your questions more like people do. Already, you can tap a mic, talk to Google in a more natural way and get responses spoken back to you on Android, iPhone, and iPad devices.

Today, we previewed what this conversational experience will look like in Chrome on your desktops and laptops. Soon, you’ll be able to just say, hands-free, “OK Google, will it be sunny in Santa Cruz this weekend?” and get a spoken answer. Then, you’ll be able to continue the conversation and just follow up with “how far is it from here?” if you care about the drive or “how about Monterey?” if you want to check weather somewhere else, and get Google to tell you the answer.

Are we one step closer to the Star Trek computer?

This new service should work just fine on most laptops that have microphones built in but you’ll need to make sure you have an external microphone if you use this on your desktop computer.  No word on exactly when this new service will be available.

What do you think?  Gimmick or the next generation in computing?

Source:  Inside Search