When Bell Laboratories designed the "Audrey" system to recognize the numbers 1 to 10 when spoken by one (and only one) voice in 1952, it was a big deal - one that no doubt resulted in an unknown number of champagne corks hitting the ceiling. It took another decade, however, before more complex language entered the picture, this time in the form of IBM's "Shoebox" machine, which debuted at the 1962 World's Fair to show off its ability to understand 16 words in English.