With the iPhone’s most recent software update we get a glimpse of what future hand held devices, vehicle computers, personal computers, and just about everything else will be like.

Voice controls are nothing new, in fact they have been around for a long time. However, the usual applications to voice control have been pretty basic; voice dialing and that’s about it. What Apple is doing with its iPhone OS 3.0 is embracing voice control in almost every aspect of the device. Not only that, the voice controls that one can use are totally natural and human (no “computer, dial number 555-5555″). You can say things like, “play more songs like this,” or, “call diane,” or even ask it questions like, “what artist is this?”

Cars have also had voice controlled mapping systems for a long time. You’re able to speak a saved location and it will map it for you, or perhaps ask it to find the nearest gas station. But what’s really important here is the fact that we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. You might ask, what else could I possibly want with voice control? After all I don’t want to have a conversation with my computer or my phone. Here are some possible future applications for the iPhone alone:

As long as Apple provides APIs for the voice control, developers should be able to apply this feature into literally anything.

But imagine the possibilities; get into your car and authenticate yourself, then tell the car to start, map where you’re going (find you an alternate route if need be), control your phone, music, air conditioning… everything. Apply it to the home, your television, anything.

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Tags: Future Tech, iPhone