Speech Recognition on the iPhone, Via Vlingo

iPhone owners can download a free Vlingo app through the iTunes App Store. Much like the Blackberry software, the application lets users place phone calls to people in their contact lists by speaking their names, and initiate Web searches by speaking their search terms. (There’ a nice video here explaining all of the application’s features.) But unlike the Blackberry app, Vlingo’s iPhone app can also be used to search local business listings and see the results on a map—for example, by speaking an inquiry such as “movie theaters in Boston.” And it lets users dictate status-update messages that are posted instantly to their Facebook or Twitter accounts. [click heading for more]