Tools for tomorrow: the new millenium promises some ultracool - and ultrapractical - products

Entrepreneur, Jan, 1999 by Cassandra Cavanah

The new millennium promises some ultracool - and ultrapractical - products.

As yet another year dawns, technology once again promises to make our lives easier than they ever have been before.

Although your computer won't be doing all your work for you in 1999, it's going to come pretty close. Already, Web users have become complacent as their favorite browsers, add-ohs and services have been beefed up with the ability to download information and Web pages without ever having to surf the Web. The news and data you've requested automatically appear on your screen. Soon, instead of typing, you'll find yourself barking commands at your computer with the help of voice-recognition software.

The software that runs your computer is set to make some impressive leaps as well - with the easy-to-program Java showing up everywhere and a new version of Microsoft NT making its appearance, too.

TALKING BACK

Although last year was touted by many techies as the year of voice-recognition software, 1999 will likely be the year we begin seeing this technology used as a solution to common computing problems.

Already, voice recognition - the ability to speak to your computer and have it recognize words and commands - has been a boon to the physically disabled, a description that could easily apply to those of us who are beginning to show symptoms of repetitive stress injuries. Now, instead of typing or using a mouse, you can dictate e-mail, letters and other documents and even open programs with oral commands.

Voice recognition can save you and your employees time. Say, for example, you're on the road with time to spare but no laptop to use. Now you can use a tape recorder to dictate a letter and then use voice-recognition technology to upload your dictation into your computer as a letter.

When you're ready to take the plunge into voice-recognition technology, look no further than Dragon Systems' Naturally-Speaking. Since its release in June 1998, this product hasn't stopped thrilling journalists and users alike, winning numerous awards over the past year. For about $100, users can talk into a microphone at more than 100 words per minute and have the words translated into text in just about any Windows application, including Corel WordPerfect, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange 97, Microsoft Word 97 and Qualcomm Eudora. NaturallySpeaking comes in numerous versions.

The souped-up version, NaturallySpeaking Professional ($695), includes some interesting additional features, such as the ability to learn a user's dialect, accent or unique pronunciations. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Mobile ($299) allows you to transcribe dictation that's been recorded on a handheld recorder directly to your PC. There's Dictation Playback for checking the accuracy of content and intent by listening to what you said as it's played back to you in your own voice. If you have text or speech soft ware, your computer will also be able to read text to you as it appears on your computer screen. With the professional version, you also get multiuser support so multiple users can create their own voice-recognition files and store them on one computer.

Businesses with call centers will appreciate NaturallySpeaking Call Center Edition. This program lets call centers of any size automate the data entry process by having their operators simply speak the information into the computer.

NaturallySpeaking is currently available in American English, British English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. The program runs under Windows 95/98/NT and requires a 16-bit sound card and about 200MB hard-drive space.

If you have a need to cruise the Web hands-free, check out Conversational Computing's Conversa Web 2.0 voice-recognition software. This program works only with Microsoft Windows-based Internet Explorer 4.x and lets you start working right out of the box (unlike NaturallySpeaking, which you have to spend some time training). For $29.95, you'll get a system that lets you scroll, search and more without ever laying a hand on the keyboard. The only real drag is that you'll still have to input URLs.

LOTSA JAVA BREWING

Although you've probably heard the term "Java" a lot over the past few years, it's likely you have no idea what it actually means. Java is a programming language originally developed by Sun Microsystems. (Microsoft has also put forth its own version of Java.)

What got people excited about Java in the first place is its "cross platform" capability. Unlike typical programming languages, such as C++, that are limited to creating programs for one platform (like Windows or Macintosh), programs written in Java can run on any machine. That's why so many Web sites sport Java-based programs.

The reason Java is mentioned in this column is that you're likely to see and hear the term thrown around a lot this year. Not only is it becoming more widely used, but Sun Microsystems and Microsoft are in a court battle over Microsoft's current use of Java code in Windows 98. Expect to see much in the way of Java-enabled software and even Java-enabled hardware in the months ahead.