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Add Macro Capabilities to Vista's Speech Recognition
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 11:00 PM on April 28, 2008
Windows Vista only: Microsoft has released a free "Technical Preview" of new macro features for Vista's Speech Recognition features, offering the kind of text substitution and macro-keystroke-firing provided by Texter and similar apps to voice commands. The interface is extremely simple, as explained by Lifehacker reader Abdul—simply choose the type of macro you want to enable, give it the text or commands to fire, and turn on Vista's speech recognition. It worked pretty well with my cheap USB headset on a test run, and the software is pretty refined for a "preview." Windows Speech Recognition Macros is a free download for Windows Vista systems; downloading requires running a Windows Genuine validation tool.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Al Iguana
Posted 12:11 AM 29/4/08
very clever. It's easier to say "sig" than it is to stretch your fingers into some arcane alt+ctrl+tab+{ combination. Maybe speech recognition will be useful for something afterall (other than showing off)
Al Iguana
TheTick
Posted 12:02 AM 29/4/08
Great screenshot to accompany the article, said you were doing an ass feature?
TheTick
xint
Posted 12:41 AM 29/4/08
The screenshot is a perfect example of what has been expected of VISTA and it's "features".
Waaaaaaaaay before it would be out to the public they made a presentation of this "speech recognition" for Office at MS. It did the same exact thing... Like, not recognize the correct words... I guess they must've forgotten about that... and now are sticking the same crappy system somewhere else.
xint
xint
Posted 12:53 AM 29/4/08
+ Watch video
xint
Kevin Purdy
Posted 1:21 AM 29/4/08
@TheTick: Well, that's part of "associate editor at Lifehacker" ... the joys of pixel-specific cropping ;)
Kevin Purdy
Leafy
Posted 3:29 AM 29/4/08
vista speech recognition is great for everything except dictation. My little sister loves to mess with it just cuz it brings up hilarious lines for something as simple as "mary had a little lamb". But it is seriously convenient for actions like window manipulation, etc..
Leafy
harmful
Posted 2:51 AM 29/4/08
vista. don't make me vomit.
xp users with dragon naturally speaking:
[www.synapseadaptive.com]
harmful
Al Iguana
Posted 2:37 AM 29/4/08
@xint: yeah, well, I've actually tried Vista speech recognition in a week long "real-world" test, and it worked perfectly. You HAVE to take time to "teach" it your voice first, but It works fine. Ultimately though, not much use for dictation (I can type faster than I can speak) BUT perfect for launching commands and macros.
Al Iguana
J. D. Harper (aka Blog Jones)
Posted 6:03 AM 29/4/08
I've discovered that microphone quality really matters to the Vista Voice Recognition. I have to use a headset mike if I want Vista to understand what I'm saying; my laptop's built-in mike won't cut it.
Also: Is anyone else tired of all the Vista hate? We get it. You don't like Vista. You don't need to come in and crap on any post that mentions it. Mm-kay? Thanks.
J. D. Harper (aka Blog Jones)
JohnD65
Posted 7:34 AM 29/4/08
@JD Harper: Yeah, but unfortunately most people won't be carrying around a portable microphone. If software is not designed to use the computer's built in devices, it's simply not good enough to be released. Just think if someone designed software that required users to carry around an external monitor, do you think it would really succeed? It sounds like the voice recognition needs improvement, not the the built-in mic for computers. If you recorded audio on your computer, you could probably decipher the audio. The reason Vista voice recognition can't do it yet is simply because voice recognition is not yet up to par.
JohnD65
Leafy
Posted 9:44 PM 29/4/08
@JD Harper: Count me in - I'm tired of vista rants...
@JohnD65: I know of no text-to-voice software that doesn't require a headset mike to translate properly.. And just cuz it can't do it doesn't mean you shouldn't let users try better technology. It does no harm; it doesn't come in the way..
Leafy