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"There's a lot going on in the mobile search space.  All the big names are constantly tweaking their mobile portals to lead you in the right direction\u2014to more of their content.  This approach comes in handy every so often.  The latest to roll out a new feature for their mobile landing page is Ask.com.  We don't hear much of its mobile search portal, but similar to its web portal, the Ask.com tactic is one that is still very much geared to the average consumer.  \nIf you're doing a particular action on the phone, it's often easier to speak, right?  That's what phones are all about.  So going along with a few other impending trends, Ask.com decided to provide a voice-activated service that lets you get directions to your final destination, thanks to a partnership with DialDirections. I know what you're thinking: \"Oh baby, I don't need to spring for that navigation system now!\"  \nUnfortunately for us all, the Ask.com voice-activated directions tool isn't one of those tools that's made considerably easier just by speaking into the phone.  But here's how it works: go to ask.com on your mobile phone.  You'll see the Directions link, with the new voice-activated option beside it.  Follow that link and your phone will ask if you want to call the number.  Sure.  A nice lady computer on the other end will ask for the city and state of your destination, then the address.  \nLuckily, the system can in fact recognize when you say the address in typical formats, such as \"fifty-five eighty-three South State St.\"  That saves me some time and doesn't require me to change my behavior.  What would be worse than having to remember to say \"five five eight three\" whenever I use Ask.com's voice-activated tools?  \nOnce you've given your destination, you'll need to give your starting location.  Once that's all finished, you'll get a text message a few seconds later, with a link containing your directions.  There are a couple of options for your directions: list format or turn-by-turn format.  Regardless of your phone device model, you'll also get a map of your route, which can be viewed in street or aerial format.  Additionally, you can choose to get walking or driving directions.  So with all that you'll still need to do manually (accessing Ask.com's mobile home page, getting the text message link, selecting the various format combos), is this easier than typing in the address for your directions?  It's freeing up your hands in a marginal sense, and there are still a good amount of actions you'll need to use your thumbs for.  \nGranted, it's easier to select links than type in words, but I'm wondering what other ways Ask.com will be utilizing voice-activated tools for its mobile search portal; regular search? name-that-tune music search?  Just yesterday ChaCha announced its new text-message mobile search option, which I think is an improved way in which to utilize its human assets.  And with Google supposedly testing voice-activated search options, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the major search engines will need to implement voice-activated tools for their mobile portals as well."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2008/01/03/askcom-voice-directions/>