Kurzweil Improves VOICE for Windows

It’s been our long-standing contention that accurate, real-world speech recognition will be the real keyboard-killer, not the pen. In this scenario, the pen will still serve as an important complement to rich communication, much the same way it does today between people.

While this goal is some ways off on handheld PDAs, companies such as Kurzweil Applied Intelligence (KAI) are hard at work improving voice recognition technology on desktop computers. KAI recently announced Release 1.2 of its VOICE for Windows product which enables people to use Windows-based applications by voice.

VOICE for Windows enables people to enter text and data by speaking into the applications, in addition to navigating Windows itself by voice command. Along with the software upgrade, KAI also announced that VOICE for Windows is now shipping with the Mwave WindSurfer multimedia sound board from IBM.

The WindSurfer board comes complete with a range of telecommunication features that include a 14.4 Kbps data/fax modem, DSP-based voice messaging, CD-quality music synthesis, along with the DSP-based audio support for KAI’s VOICE for Windows.

VOICE for Windows supports a broad range of productivity applications including those from WordPerfect, Lotus, Microsoft, Intuit, and others. Additional applications can be voice-enabled through a command editing interface.

Kurzweil’s VOICE for Windows Release 1.2, together with the WindSurfer board, retails for $995. Current users of Kurzweil’s VOICE can upgrade for $45.

Kurzweil Applied Intelligence, Inc.
Jeff Aubin (Brodeur & Partners)
(617) 622-2841
411 Waverly Oaks Road
Waltham, MA 02154
(617) 893-5151
(617) 893-6525 (fax)