Apple unveils 'breakthrough' in technology: Macintosh model responds to spoken commands using plain language
Article Abstract:
Apple is developing technology that allows Apple Macintosh computers to respond to the human voice and carry out tasks assigned by a voice for use in either future Macs or the 'knowledge navigator' pocket-sized computers now in development. The technology allows users to specify a change in type size, to program a video recorder or to find a name in a telephone directory and call the corresponding number. Users can talk in plain language and need not pause in between words. Computer researchers have been discussing the possibilities of speech-recognition since the 1940s, but this is the first product to achieve human voice-based recognition without specialized hardware such as digital signal processor chips. The technology works as well with new speakers as with familiar speakers. It requires a 68040 processor, which could make the first few products cost $5,000 or more, a relatively expensive microcomputer price. The researchers are still trying to battle the effects of background noise on speech recognition.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1992
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Microsoft set to fight Apple in new market
Article Abstract:
Microsoft Corp plans to introduce Video for Windows, an extension to Microsoft's Windows that enables a microcomputer to play a video clip onscreen, just as Apple Computer Inc rolls out QuickTime for Windows, a similar program that Apple had once hoped Microsoft would adopt. QuickTime debuted in 1992 as a Macintosh program. Both Microsoft and Apple believe that software holds the key to the nascent multimedia market. The $199 Video for Windows runs on microcomputers based on Intel Corp's 386 or 486 microprocessors. No special hardware is needed. Apple believes its product is superior to Microsoft's. WordPerfect Corp and Lotus Development Corp have already agreed to develop applications around QuickTime.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1993
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Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
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