Chris Pirillo » voice-recognition

Speech Recognition

Chris — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:30:52 +0000

Speech Recognition is a post from Chris Pirillo

http://live.pirillo.com/ – Is Windows Vista speech recognition any good? Chris has used almost every speech recognition package, and he has yet to be impressed.

The speed recognition software built into Windows Vista isn't that bad. Of course, it isn't that great either. It does a fair job as long as you have a quality microphone and you speak clearly – no thick New York accents here.

The problems, of course, show up when you try to pronounce acronyms or companies such as "Ustream." You need to train the software to understand what you're saying, so it ends up being more of an annoyance than being anything practical.

If you're serious about using voice recognition (or you must use it because of a disability), then really consider getting Dragon Naturally Speaking, a much more powerful software package than what Microsoft includes with Windows Vista.

Want to embed our Speech Recognition video in your blog? Use this code:

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi)

Ten Things I Love About Windows Vista

Chris — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 08:38:43 +0000

Ten Things I Love About Windows Vista is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’m not blind, folks.

ReadyBoost. This feature really does make Vista infinitely more responsive. You must pick up an Apacer HT203 2GB stick or two – immediately. I hate its casing, but I can’t argue with the Apacer’s speed. ReadyBoost isn’t just optional – it’s necessary. They should bundle an Apacer 2GB with every copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, IMHO.
Start Menu’s Start Search. Very, very nice. I wish Microsoft would remap the Win+R key combo to it, though. I can tell it’s going to be a time saver for many users – myself included. It reminds me of OS X’s Spotlight. Too bad I hate the rest of the Start Menu.
Future Fix Notifications. So, sometimes when Windows Vista crashes, the operating system actually tells you that a fix for the error is coming in a future build of the software. Awesome. No more guesswork! Microsoft Office seems to be enabled with the same feature. A crash isn’t so bad if you know it’s going to be fixed.
Windows Explorer’s Details Pane. This is very useful, especially when I can edit information without actually having to open up a properties sheet for a file. It’s not perfect, but this is an example of how I believe Windows Vista will help users understand that certain files have extended metadata. I only wish more fields could be edited (like for Word documents).
Windows Explorer’s Folders Pane. Horizontal scrollbars are the bane of my existence. They’ve eliminated them partially from the Windows Explorer. When you navigate the Folders pane, it will auto-scroll for you – never displaying a horizontal scrollbar. Intuitive.
Volume Mixer Changes. “Sounds” crazy, but this is a feature everybody wishes they had. You can set volume levels for various programs independently – without touching your default system volume. It’s not amazing, but this is certainly better than what we had before.
Task Manager Additions. While truncated fields lack tool tips, at least you can finally right-click a process to “Open File Location.” I’ve needed that more than a few times. The Services tab should also come in handy.
Windows Explorer’s Breadcrumb Bar. This one may take a little getting used to, but I’m convinced that this is a much more natural way of exploring the files and folders in my system. Very smart use of space.
Richer Drags. When you select multiple objects and drag them around, you’ll see a small box near your cursor which displays how many objects you have selected.
Voice Recognition. It’s not perfect but then again one-eight navigation work the helm a lot better than beat the period. I swear not me without. Why is it to me that. Enough of you at varying. I don’t think we think the software will agree with anybody want you or me and I did bring. Not even close. Let’s try that again. Wow, it might have worked at time. Interesting. You can correct sentences on the fly, though it’s not totally intuitive. This entire paragraph was dictated. I wonder if it’s learning my speech patterns?

Okay, so that last one was thrown in for good measure. All work and no play makes Homer go something-something.

Windows Vista Voice Recognition

Chris — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 06:19:01 +0000

Windows Vista Voice Recognition is a post from Chris Pirillo

Oh, just press play…

…yeah, I can’t wait.

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

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Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

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chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

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