Hundreds of innovative ideas submitted in TI's Vision for Voice contest bring new VoIP technology ideas to light

DALLAS, June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- With its first social media "Vision for Voice" video contest, Texas Instruments (TI) elicited the dreams of customers, partners and university students to hear their ideas for the future of voice technology. One contest winner imagined a keyless entry home that was secured with the unique voice of its owners, while another envisioned a device that enhances the quality of life for disabled individuals with voice activation technology. By initiating this voice and Voice over IP (VoIP) technology discussion with those who dream it at work, school or play, TI deepened its understanding of the needs of customers, equipment manufacturers and design engineers to ultimately bring to life their visions of voice controlled appliances, unified communications systems and other associated VoIP applications with TI's field-proven voice technology. For more information on the winning entries go to: http://www.memelabs.com/texasinstruments.

Jonathan Chung, a mechanical engineering student from the University of Maryland, was awarded the grand-prize for his idea entitled, "Visualizing the Translation." Jonathan's vision was centered on the development of a unique pair of glasses that could display a translated foreign language in the lens. The three runner-up winners included "Voice Robot" by Josh Kosnick from the University of Maryland; "Home Security" by Charles Russell Jr. from the University of Texas at Dallas; and "Smart House" by Sidney Ngochi also from the University of Maryland.

"Our Vision for Voice contest is yet another example of how TI is reaching out to the future technologists of the world and exploring ways to help make our customers' ideas a reality with our silicon and software voice solutions," said Brian Glinsman, general manager of TI's communications infrastructure and voice group. "The fact that the winning entries were all from university students, many of whom are likely to be industry thought leaders in the coming years, is further evidence of the strong university relationships TI maintains across the country. We were truly eager to listen and understand the bright ideas of students, customers and partners across the country."

For the eight week duration of the contest, individuals uploaded and submitted videos that vocalized their ideas of a voice technology innovation. The top 10 videos were then judged by a five-member panel, and evaluated based on creativity, technical feasibility and universal appeal. Chung, the grand prize winner, received a 56" Samsung High Definition DLP(R) TV + home theater system and the three runner-ups received Slacker portable Internet radio players, developed with TI's OMAP(TM) technology.

"I had a lot of fun thinking about ideas for the future of voice. With so many U.S. soldiers and relief workers stationed throughout the world, eyeglasses that scroll language translation in native tongue could really help them communicate effortlessly," Chung said. "I am so happy my vision could potentially impact the direction of future technologies."

The panel of judges included: Alan Weckel, IP telephony analyst for Dell'Oro Group, Loring Wirbel, director, EE Times market intelligence unit, Andrew Garcia, senior technical analyst and consumer electronics blogger for eWeek, Debbie Greenstreet, director of strategic marketing for TI's communications infrastructure and voice group and Mark Denissen, vice president of TI's strategic marketing group. This contest is an integral part of TI's vision of a world where every IP connection is voice-enabled and where network connectivity and voice capability become virtually synonymous.

For more information on TI's vision for voice contest, or to view a video clip of Jonathan Chung discussing his winning idea, go to http://www.ti.com/youtube and visit the vision for voice contest playlist.

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