In July, 1999, a S.D. newspaper article gives some inkling about the edig/intel project:
e.Digital
POWAY -- Someday soon, people may be able to harvest news articles, e-mail and other bits of text off the Internet and listen as this information is read aloud from portable devices.
The first steps toward that ambitious goal are happening here, inside the offices of e.Digital Corp. Giant chipmaker Intel is paying the Lilliputian Poway company for research and development costs aimed at making new speech-to-text, text-to-speech gizmos. The project, which began last year but stalled when the companies dumped a third-party technology partner in favor of another unnamed firm, remains hush-hush. The companies won't even reveal drawings of what the device looks like.
Still, Skip Matthews, a senior project development manager for Intel's Memory Components Division, coyly hinted at the project's capabilities. "What if you had a device that could read The Wall Street Journal to you while you're in your car?" he said, declining to elaborate.
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Command Audio Launches World's First Audio-on-demand Service at Arizona Auto Show
People in Phoenix can now hear what they want, when they want
Phoenix, Arizona - November 25, 1999 - Phoenix auto show-goers are the first people in the country to experience a revolutionary new wireless audio service called Command Audio. Command Audio's audio-on-demand service enables listeners to hear what they want, when they want. With Command Audio, mobile listeners can choose from hundreds of popular programs taken from TV, magazines, newspapers and radio - all now available in audio form. Command Audio's wireless audio-on-demand service launches at the Arizona International Auto Show, which runs from Thursday, November 25 through Kid's Day on Sunday, November 28.
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Subscribers to the Command Audio service
can listen to The Wall Street Journal
==========================================Motorola and Command Audio Partner to Bring Audio-on-demand to the Car
Motorola makes strategic investment in Command Audio; Command Audio will provide audio-on-demand service for leading worldwide supplier of telematics systems
Schaumburg, IL and Redwood City, CA - January 10, 2000 - Motorola and Command Audio Corporation, creator of the world's first audio-on-demand service, have joined forces to advance Motorola's innovative telematics initiative by incorporating the Command Audio(tm) audio-on-demand information and entertainment capabilities into the next generation of automotive telematics systems. With these systems, drivers will experience a seamless in-car integration of the Command Audio audio-on-demand service with telematics' communications, navigation and information systems. The companies also announced that Motorola has made a substantial strategic investment in Command Audio.
Command Audio's audio-on-demand service will be integrated into Motorola's iRadio?, a revolutionary concept in in-vehicle information and entertainment. The latest addition to the company's telematics platforms, iRadio was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
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The possibilities for on-demand interactive audio are endless but they all involve giving consumers choice, control and personalization.
A variety of media content such as television, print and radio can be produced and delivered via digital networks for on-demand consumption at the listeners' convenience. Programs are broadcast to receiver devices where they are cached for playback. Consumers can select the programs they want to receive using an Electronic Program Guide and have full control over how and when to listen. They can instantaneously scan from story to story within programs, hear only relevant stories, pause, skip, or save programs for later listening. Content is automatically updated whenever the latest edition becomes available.
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e.Digital is scheduled to unveil a new automotive stereo product based on the company’s MicroOSTM 2.0 technology. The compact HDD-based design is the core of a complete, integrated automotive infotainment system developed with Eclipse by Fujitsu Ten and licensed for sale under the Eclipse brand name. Known as the MP-3 Changer, the system uses e.Digital’s VoiceNav speech recognition interface to simplify use and promote safe operation while driving. The MP-3 Changer also introduces the first ever (Patent Pending) Write Behind capability for post signal music/information capture.
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In a conversation I had w/ RP in August 2000, RP mentioned that edig working with companies to develop caching;
as many of you know I have long contended that edig has played a part in the development of Motorola's iRadio
AI
