April 2003 NGTVoice

It's hard to believe that the first quarter of 2003 is behind us and that Spring is on its way. Our newsletter is overdue, and we have more items for discussion than time to read them, so I will limit our topics for April and will try to get another out in early May.

One of the most significant developments in our technologies was the release of Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 7. The second to final item in this newsletter is a summary review of this new product offering from ScanSoft.

Microphone- VXI Talk Express Pro/Andrea USB Converter
Freedom Scientific WYNN Software at CEC Conference
Intel Pentium 4 3.06 Processor
Tablet PCs- Are You Ready?
Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional Version 7: Quick Review
ScanSoft Announces SpeechWorks Acquisition

Microphone-VXI Talk Express Pro/Andrea USB Converter

People frequently ask us for our recommendation regarding microphone/input technologies for use with speech recognition software. Over the years we've seen manufacturers come and go, and their product lines change. At the forefront of speech recognition microphones we've seen both of VXI (Rollinsford, NH) and Andrea Electronics (Melville, NY) continue to provide specialty design microphones specifically for speech input applications. At this juncture, the most satisfactory input technology for standard users would appear to be the VXI Talk Express Pro analog input microphone with passive noise canceling technologies ($52.00) coupled with an Andrea USB Digital converter ($48.00). We are finding that this combination of input devices seems to maximize input accuracy while minimizing difficulties associated with using speech recognition technologies.

Freedom Scientific WYNN Software at CEC Conference

I had the opportunity to attend the breakout session for Freedom Scientifics' WYNN (What You Need Now) software at the recent Counsel for Exceptional Children conference held at the Seattle Convention Center. We became a WYNN distributor in 2002. I continue to be impressed with the flexibility of this all-in-one reading software for people with learning disabilities. I find that the color-coded menus are intuitive and easily managed. Advanced features like masking and word prediction can be used singly and in combination. Their regional representative indicated that WYNN is being used through college-level work/study with good success.

Intel Pentium 4 3.06 Processor

With its recent release of the Intel Pentium 4 3.06 processor Intel has introduced the first single processor with hyper-threading capability. Hyper-threading not only allows for constant forward progress in a program that would remain halted on a current generation processor, but allows for true multitasking between several programs. The Hardware Unlimited benchmark testing indicates this to be an impressive technological advance. While it is too early to state the direct impact that this new technology will have on processor intensive applications, we are starting to build our NGT VoicePro desktop computer line with this state-of-the-art processor and anticipate improved results for speech input/voice output applications.

Tablet PCs

The technology industry is excited about the new Tablet PC technology. The new Tablet operating system from Microsoft with its support for alternative input technologies coupled with terrific hardware form factors will make the Tablet a flexible alternative to the traditional notebook computer. So the questions are: Is the time right to buy a Tablet, and who should buy one? In my opinion, Tablet technology is still somewhat restrictive, which may continue to make this a niche technology in the short term (we are very excited about the potential of speech-enabled tablet computers running on wireless networks for our medical providers). In addition, the new Intel Centrino processor is not anticipated to debut in these computers until June of 2003. Finally, tablet computing certainly comes at a price: They are not inexpensive. Having said that, I'm hoping to have a review of a new Tablet PC running the Centrino processor in my June newsletter.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 7 Review

We have been working with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional version 7 for about a month, and more recently with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical Suite version 7. First this is a smart upgrade, which means that your version 5 or 6 user profile is automatically upgraded to version 7, without having to start over again. Probably the most significant aspect of this version upgrade is improved recognition accuracy, more on a par with the type of accuracy I was familiar with in version 5, and there are number of additional feature set upgrades. From a network standpoint there are number of new utilities that will be very helpful which include: the ability to push a Dragon NaturallySpeaking image using MSI; the ability to back up user data automatically to a share location; the ability to more easily import and export user profiles over the network. The Command Browser has received a complete reworking, and we're still evaluating all of its new feature sets. Overall, I believe that ScanSoft has been an excellent job of further blending the core Dragon and Lernout & Hauspie technologies. Although we have a number of new user caveats, probably the one that is the most basic is we have found that both version 6 and version 7 set up more sensitively than previous versions. This leads us to advise people to try moving the microphone approximately 1 inch from their mouth when setting up the new profile, or completing the audio set up wizard. This seems to have a significantly beneficial effect on general accuracy.

My final comment: Definitely worth the price of the upgrade. If you have any questions about upgrading or using Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 7, please contact us.

ScanSoft Announces SpeechWorks Acquisition

ScanSoft (SSFT) and SpeechWorks (SPWX) announced a definitive agreement to merge the two companies, whereby ScanSoft will purchase all outstanding SpeechWorks common stock. This transaction brings together the broadest set of speech technologies, products and professional services in a diversified organization that is able to support partners and customers on a global scale more effectively and efficiently. The transaction is valued at approximately $132 million. The significant development within the speech technologies arena bodes well for further expansion and improvement of speech technologies in areas like desktop deployment, telephony, auto applications, text-to-speech, and so on. There should be additional information about this forthcoming over the next few weeks.

We would like to take this opportunity to let you know how much we appreciate your continued considerations and support, and wish you a safe and healthy transition to summer.

-- Edward and the NGT Team

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