tellme

Tellme's Mike McCue offers parting thoughts

Mike McCue was a bit choked up Wednesday after announcing he will leave Microsoft next month, two years after the software giant acquired Tellme Networks, where McCue was a founder and chief executive.

"It's kind of an unusual feeling to leave a company you've started," McCue said in a telephone interview, following a meeting with his staff. "It is a big change. There is no question about it. It was an emotional all-hands meeting."

McCue said that he wants to get back to "his entrepreneurial roots."

"I haven't really thought … Read more

Tellme co-founder Davis also exits Microsoft

Mike McCue isn't the only Tellme veteran who is leaving Microsoft. Also departing is McCue's fellow Tellme co-founder Angus Davis.

Davis told the troops of his departure at a recently concluded staff meeting.

"Just told my colleagues of 10 yrs I'm leaving company I founded," Davis said in a Twitter posting. "What a wonderful journey. Thank you, Tellme!"

The Tellme unit will become part of a "speech center of excellence" to be led by Zig Serafin, a 10-year Microsoft veteran. That unit will also include Microsoft's separate Speech Components Group. … Read more

Tellme's Mike McCue leaving Microsoft

Mike McCue, the former Netscape executive who led TellMe, plans to leave Microsoft in June, two years after his company was acquired by the software maker.

The Tellme unit will become part of a "speech center of excellence" to be led by Zig Serafin, a 10-year Microsoft veteran. That unit will also include Microsoft's separate Speech Components Group.

The new unit has about 400 employees, with three-quarters coming from Tellme and 100 from the speech components unit.

"Mike has been instrumental in making Tellme a core part of (Microsoft's) long-term speech strategy," the company … Read more

Tellme voice app to search Windows Mobile

Everybody chuckled when Tellme, a mobile voice company snapped up by Microsoft almost two years ago, released its smartphone voice search application for BlackBerry, instead of for Windows Mobile. Thanks to a new native application that will be released on Windows Mobile 6.5 phones this coming fall, the ribbing may entirely subside.

On Wednesday, Tellme announced the application's features and its shipping plan. Like rival voice services for smartphones, you click a hardware hotkey to initiate the program's digital ears, and from there you can begin a search, call a number, or dictate a text message. This … Read more

Tellme for iPhone due by June

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Microsoft is, indeed, working on an iPhone application.

As I predicted, it is the company's Tellme unit that is actively developing a program for Apple's iPhone. Tellme offers voice-activated search for a variety of phones, including the BlackBerry.

Although the company created an early alpha program in a matter of weeks, senior director Dariusz Paczuski said it will probably be a couple of months before a public version is ready. He said it will definitely happen within the current fiscal year, which runs through June.

"I'm not sure we can squeeze it out … Read more

Tellme tries to speak to sports nuts

Yelling "Does anyone know the Cowboys score?" into a crowd can yield mixed results. But, starting Monday, telling your phone the same thing could produce a much more dependable answer.

Microsoft's Tellme unit is announcing an expansion of its "voice-to-screen" search service. By saying "sports" and the name of one's favorite team, users of the Tellme app can now get a screen with details on a team's current or upcoming game.

Among the sports covered are professional baseball, football, hockey, men's and women's basketball, and soccer. College sports include … Read more

Microsoft's first iPhone app--Tellme?

Microsoft hasn't committed to any iPhone apps. However, if I was a betting woman, I would put my money on something coming from Microsoft's Tellme unit.

Tellme is the speech recognition company that Microsoft bought last year. Among its many products is one that lets you speak a search term into a phone and get back a screen with information--say the location of the nearest gas station or pizza parlor.

Tellme CEO-turned-Microsoft executive Mike McCue has been spending a lot of time these days integrating his voice search technology with Windows Mobile. However, Tellme has also continued to … Read more

Microsoft's Tellme launches its best app ever...for BlackBerry

OK, Mike McCue, CEO of recently-acquired-by-Microsoft Tellme: Tell me again why your brand new mobile phone app--the cool one that lets you speak a business name or category into the phone and then gives you nearest matches on your screen--is out first for the BlackBerry, and not Windows Mobile?

As McCue explained it to me, Tellme had the BlackBerry app well into development when Microsoft acquired his company. But why BlackBerry at all? Because it's a better platform for Java, which the app is built on, than is Windows Mobile.

Of course, Tellme will build a Windows Mobile version … Read more

A hidden Yahoo acquisition cost for Microsoft

Microsoft's attempt to acquire Yahoo is expensive, but there could be a significant other expense for the software maker: retention bonuses.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer publicly discussed these payments to keep Yahoo employees from leaving, saying that "we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders, and employees across all disciplines." But The New York Times on Wednesday dug out a number that puts the retention bonus factor into perspective.

Specifically, the paper said Microsoft's acquisition of Tellme Networks, a deal valued at about $800 million, was supplemented by a further $100 … Read more