Don’t lift a finger
office work will be done without any effort, so to speak... TECHNOFILE
Tim Stackpool foresees the day when all your
It doesn’t takea very deep gaze into the crystal ball of technology to foresee a time when voice-activated devices will become more commonplace in the office. You often already experience it when order- ing a taxi or calling your energy provider, but you might be surprised to learn there are quite a number of voice-acti- vated products for the office already on the market, with another handful poised for launch.
Easy dictation Most would be familiar with the Dragon Naturally Speaking range of dictation software, which allows the user to take control of their computer, navigate the internet, send emails, search the web, modify documents and automate busi- ness processes. The range of control available through this one piece of soft- ware is quite astounding. “Voice-acti- vated commands are becoming more and more popular as it leads to greater efficiency and faster response time,” says Nathan Shea, a distributor of Dragon Nat- urally Speaking software. “By dictating responses to email, and by controlling applications by voice rather than a mouse, jobs get done faster, and more ergonom- ically as the user is freed from being con- stantly hunched over a keyboard." The developers claim the software is
three times faster than typing. “Turn your ideas into text at the speed of thought,” they say. A new feature in the software allows it to transcribe words that have been previously dictated into a digital voice recorder, which is useful. Alternatively, if your computer runs Win- dows Vista, 7 or 8, Microsoft’s proprietary voice-recognition module is built in.
Give your fingers a rest And if you want to try your hand (pun intended) at reproducing mouse actions with your voice, search for ‘Voice Finger’ on the internet. It’s highly responsive and has proved popular with gamers who want to click on keys or move the mouse
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without lifting their hand off the game controller. Personal trainer Mat Skate, who writes a blog on his Weight to Life web- site to keep his clients motivated, uses voice-to-text software. “What I particularly like about it is that I can write blogs clos- ing my eyes and visualising what I want to say, then simply letting it come out,” he says. “I don’t have to wait until my typing catches up with my thoughts.”
New developments Many developments in this area stem from advancements in helping people with a physical impairment. Totally Voice Acti- vated Phone Dialler does exactly what you expect, using your everyday phone. A small box fits between the phone line and your handset. Once the unit has been ‘taught’, you
merely need pick up the phone and say the name of the person you want to call (mobile phones already have a similar fea- ture). Another option is to say the phone number out loud, which is then automat- ically dialled. Several manufacturers are releasing
voice-activated televisions this year that may ultimately make the remote control obsolete (no problem if it goes missing from the boardroom again), though a voice-activated remote control has been available for a while. Not surprisingly, it has few buttons. The remote control makes any AV device voice-acti- vated, raising or lowering the volume, changing sources or turning items on and off. So, one day soon we may be able to com- plete our work without lifting a finger. E
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