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AT&T Launches Voice Controlled U-verse Remote App
9/26/2012
DALLAS--AT&T
has launched the U-verse Easy Remote App that allows U-verse subscribers to use
voice remote control capabilities via their iPhone or iPad. The app is
available for free at iTunes. 
AT&T says
the app makes it easier for U-verse TV customers with disabilities such as
vision and hearing loss, to control their TV. The app was built with a
commitment to universal design and is optimized to give all users access to
features to control their TV, including:
Multiple screen
color, button and font size choices which let subscribers customize their
iPhone or iPad screen for a better viewing experience.
A
voice-initiated remote control to perform a variety of commands, including
Channel Up, Channel Down, Fast Forward, Rewind, Replay, Pause, Play, Record and
Go to channel (name or number);
A voice command feature
that lets subscribers choose a show they want to watch by simply saying the
show title or channel number into their device.
iPhone's
VoiceOver screen reader, which enables subscribers to hear TV show and channel
information as they scroll through the programming guide.
Gesture commands, which allows subscribers to control shows they’re
viewing with different gesture movements; and
One-touch
access to closed captioning.
"Most Americans rely
on their television as a critical source of news and entertainment and it is
important that these resources be made accessible for all users," said
Larry Goldberg, director of WGBH's Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center
for Accessible Media (NCAM). "It is great to see an app like Easy Remote
apply many of the universal design features that improve access for customers
both with and without disabilities."
The U-verse
Easy Remote App was initially developed by researchers at AT&T Labs. The
voice control functions of the Easy Remote app are powered by the AT&T
Watson speech recognition technology using AT&T's Speech API, which uses
advanced natural language processing to recognize and understand spoken words.
Also developed in AT&T Labs, AT&T Watson speech recognition technology
has been powering advanced speech services in the marketplace for many years
and is now available for third-party developers to use in their own apps
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