Google Adds Audio to Search Capabilities, Android Is Next

Google launched a new audio search indexing experiment that allows users to find spoken words inside videos and, in conjunction with T-Mobile, will introduce the first mobile phone running Google’s Android software on September 23 at a press conference in New York.

Google Audio Indexing (GAUDI) was developed by Google Labs and runs the same underlying speech technology used in Google’s Elections Video Search Gadget.

With the new application—which transforms spoken words into text and then indexes that text using search technology—users searching for spoken words inside video clips will be able to jump to portions of a video where the searched words are spoken.

"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," a Google spokesperson says. "As more video content is being created everyday, Google Audio Indexing tries to make it easier for people to find and consume spoken content from videos on the Web.We are constantly working to allow our users to better search all types of content."

The GAUDI tool will initially be available only for election videos, but Google plans to expand its use to other videos.

GAUDI users will be able to type in a query and then refine search results using channel filters that correspond to YouTube channels. Search results include information about each video, including the number of times the query terms are spoken.

The first Android phone—T-Mobile's HTC Dream—is expected to be available to consumers at the end of October and will provide a mobile application platform to rival Apple's iPhone and possibly place Google in a position to drive the mobile phone market.

Last November, Google announced the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, an international coalition of 34 mobile operators, handset manufacturers, and semiconductor companies, to promote open standards for mobile devices, which would likely expedite the innovation of mobile devices and services.

The availability of the Android phone with a functioning application store has caused speculation regarding whether Apple will reconsider its controversial exclusion of some iPhone applications from its iTunes App Store.

Google refused to comment about the Android phone prior to the upcoming press conference.