IBM VIA VOICE MILLENIUM EDITION FOR THE MAC

Product Features

• Easy to learn & use
• Use your natural speech
• 260,000-word dictionary

With IBM's ViaVoice Millennium Edition, it is at long last possible to use voice-recognition technology to dictate documents straight into your Mac. Why hunt and peck at the keyboard when you can talk to your Mac?

ViaVoice does so much more than Apple's built-in speech recognition that it's in a different league. Almost anything you can do with the keyboard in a word processor, ViaVoice lets you do by speaking into its headset microphone. Rather than laboriously typing out what you want to say, you can just talk as you think, making creating documents both fast and fun. The first thing you find when you open the ViaVoice box is the iMac-inspired headset microphone. This microphone is not only well made and stylish, it also lets you match its colored panels to the color of your Mac.

The accuracy of ViaVoice depends on the computer building up a voice model for each person who uses it. Because of this task, installing and setting up the software takes much longer than for most applications. However, IBM has created one of the most intuitive and fun setup routines of any Mac software package. Every detail has been thought of, right down to showing you a photograph of the back of your individual Macintosh model to help you connect the microphone. Building up your personal speech model isn't just simple; it's also fun, with ViaVoice asking you to read scripts on the screen out loud, including excerpts from Alice in Wonderland. The more scripts you read, the more accurate ViaVoice becomes, and you can go back at any time and run the voice analysis again to improve this accuracy.

One limitation of ViaVoice is its integration with word-processing software. You can't actually dictate straight into popular programs such as Microsoft Word or AppleWorks, but must instead use ViaVoice's SpeakPad. However, once the document is finished, it can be transferred into your favorite word processor by simply speaking the "Transfer to ..." command. Also, users should note that ViaVoice requires a G3 or G4 processor, such as is found in the iMac and all current Macintosh models.

ViaVoice is ideally suited to users whose keyboard skills aren't quite at the touch-typing level yet or who are physically unable to use a keyboard with ease. In these cases, ViaVoice can speed up the process of writing documents dramatically. Children, in particular, will find that it makes writing homework essays much more fun. Even the occasional speech-recognition mistakes can be fun, as you watch the strange things that ViaVoice types in place of the names of friends and family! --Daniel Jardine,

Product Description

These days, just owning a Macintosh sets you apart from the crowd. You like to think your own thoughts, go your own way. Chances are you often find yourself burning with new ideas, but your fingers can't keep up with your brain, right? No problem. With ViaVoice, just speak to your Mac and your thoughts are on the screen. OK, maybe not everything you do on your computer is for fun. But with ViaVoice for Mac, even such tasks as an overdue report or the letter you owe Aunt Edna can become faster, easier, and a lot more interesting. And because more than one person can use ViaVoice for Mac on the same computer, maybe you can get someone else to dictate that letter.

Manufacturer Description

New for the Mac, it's easy, intuitive, and fun. Just speak naturally and watch the words appear on screen. Installation is simple, and it takes just a short time to teach ViaVoice to recognize your voice.