April/May 1999

Magazine Features

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
Parts of Speech: Building Dialogs

Many speech developers spent long hours trying to eliminate the "talking robot" phenomenon that experts once thought was the major log jam for the acceptance of speech-centric applications. As a result, speech applications now "sound" right. Today's text-to-speech applications are sometimes mistaken for human beings and speech recognition applications no longer require that users speak "discretely" but instead allows users to speak "continuously" without pausing between each individual word.

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
Intel Previews Pentium III

Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, CA) assembled more than 250 exhibitors and as many members of the media in San Jose recently to preview the release of its next-generation, Pentium III chip. The new chip, code-named Katmai, is designed specifically to support the transmission of advanced multimedia technology over the Internet. It contains 70 new instructions, new architectures for floating-point and streaming operations, a unique ID code, and an enhanced cache layout that supports faster processing of large quantities of data. All of this runs at 450 to 550MHz.

Continuous Dictation: New Voice Xpress Released

Lernout & Hauspie has released an entirely new edition of Voice Xpress. We review here "Professional" version 2.02, which is similar to lower editions of the same vintage, the "Standard" and "Advanced" editions, available in price ranges of about $50, $80, and $130.

HUMAN FACTORS
Can Speech Improve Cell Phone Interfaces?

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are everywhere. For the past decade, consumers have dialed regularly into computer systems to obtain automated bank, portfolio, and account information, airline schedules, movie times, and the like. We have become so accustomed to using IVRs that, like answering machines, we may no longer be aware of whether or not we like them. They are useful, relatively easy to use, but mostly so prevalent that we frequently have no choice but to use them.

SPEECH RECONNAISSANCE

This issue of Speech Technology magazine contains the first Vendor Web Guide, which will give you a comprehensive list of "who’s who" in the speech industry. A listing of the web sites of over 150 companies involved in the speech industry, the vendor guide gives our readers a reliable reference guide they can use throughout the year. It provides a comprehensive list of manufacturers, developers, VARs, systems integrators, services and publications serving the speech industry as it relates to computers, telephones and embedded systems.

Forward Thinking

Life After the Killer App.

I never fully understood the term "killer app." It sounds ominous. Does it roam the countryside attacking minor characters in science fiction movies? Does it lurk in dark alleys?