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hikouka · Apr 22, 2004, 01:03 AM

So the other night right I'm trying to distract myself from all the work I've got to do and I stumble into the speech icon on the Apple preferences panel.

In a flash the silver apple and I are engaged in engrossing conversations and my hands are suddenly free from the keyboard.

Is it just me or do you guys think Apple's speech recognition commands are the bees knees?

I just love saying commands and new applications opening, windows moving up and down and getting my mail with just a 'get my mail' order.

Boy does it surprise the windoss people when in a meeting you say 'what time is it' , they say 'what' and their mouths drop in astonishment as your silver apple tells them all the time.

Oh and as for the jokes. I love it I love it I love it

Now if I can just get my computer to understand "run bath for me" I'll be in heaven!

angelmb · Apr 22, 2004, 01:18 PM

Sure, if only I could get it on my language... well, it is a way to improve my english :-D

And it is built-in, for free !

KidKit · Apr 22, 2004, 06:11 PM

I thought the speech recognition still need a lot to be desired, aye, but it might be me accent tho'

ryju · Apr 22, 2004, 06:56 PM

Mine tells me the time every hour, that's about it.

hikouka · Apr 22, 2004, 11:07 PM

Originally posted by ryju:
Mine tells me the time every hour, that's about it.

But its not it at all.

Open up to your Apple and she'll respond.

Its just waiting to HEAR FROM YOU. Talk to it and it'll do cool things.

I don't know if I'm just lucky with my voice or whatever, but the silver apple really responds to me when I use the Speech Commands. Its so cool just saying "Quit this Application" or "Switch to Safarai" or "Paste the clipboard here" etc and opening and quiting programs and doing all sorts of cool things with JUST YOUR VOICE (excuse my hoarse shouting).

Reading long PDF files is now so cool. I just rock back on my chair and bark out commands like "Move Page Down" and just sit back and watch it all happen.

I can hardly stop talking to it!

Give it a try!

bastula · Apr 23, 2004, 01:25 AM

I just tried this - pretty nifty. I'll have to play with this later once finals are over.

Thanks for the notice!

MilkmanDan · Apr 23, 2004, 01:57 AM

I could never get it to work for me. I don't know, I guess I dont' speak the right 'english' for it to work. We mid-westerners must be too weird for it (which is odd, cuz we have the least 'accent' of anywhere in the US). Oh well. I guess I"ll have to stick to the keyboard.

Michel_80 · Apr 23, 2004, 02:33 AM

I can just imagine how funny it must be for someone who lives with the person using the speech recognition.

hikouka · 10:12 AM

Originally posted by Michel_80:
I can just imagine how funny it must be for someone who lives with the person using the speech recognition.

Yeah, yeah - it is funny. No really it is, like my wife hears me calling out "What time is it" and now only replies if she doesn't hear my silver apple answer first.

Even just not having to move windows up and down with the mouse anymore makes everything that bit more user friendly. Just calling out 'move page up' or 'move page down' does it. It's cool, like when writing this message I say those commands to the Powerbook and the window obligingly jumps up and down.

Its a cool cool selling (talking?) point - buy an Apple and save RSI.

And man the Knock Knock jokes rock. You should have seen tonights meeting break up and everyone try their hand (?) at playing with the built in jokes, like;

(Sceptical Windoss User) Tell me a Joke
(Powerbook) Knock Knock
(Surprised Windoss User) Who's there?
(Powerbook) Thatcher
(Intrigued Windoss User) Thatcher who?
(Powerbook) Thatcher could get away with it!

(Stunned Windoss User to his laughing colleagues) Sh@t man, I just talked with a computer! I mean they'll never forget that. Whoever decided to put JOKES TO MAKE THE USER LAUGH with the FREE SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE was a genius.

Hey pigs might not fly, but APPLES do TALK!

painintheear · Apr 23, 2004, 08:27 PM

I saw this feature before, but I never had time to deal with it. Is there some sort of list of commands or do you have to figure everything out on your own? It sounds like something I will be playing with/talking to after finals are over

romeosc · Apr 23, 2004, 09:31 PM

Some Commands:

Open the Speakable Items folder
Open Speech Feedback window
Open Speech Commands window
Open Sherlock
Open my browser
Open a document
Move page up
Move page to top
Move page to bottom
Move page down
Minimize this window
Minimize Speech Feedback window
Minimize Speech Commands window
Make this speakable
Make this into a sticky note
Make new item
Log me out
Listen continuously
Hide this application
What Time Is It?
What Day Is It?
Turn on push to talk
Tell me a joke
Start screen saver
Show me what to say
Save this document
Quit this application
Quit Speakable Items
Get my mail
Define a keyboard command
Copy this to the clipboard
Paste the clipboard here
Open the Speech Preferences
Cancel last command
Close this window
Close Speech Commands window

painintheear · Apr 26, 2004, 01:29 AM

Thanks! That is a great list of commands. I can't wait to get started on this new level of enjoying my mac!

dannyillusion · Apr 26, 2004, 07:22 AM

Haha, I do not have a fascination for programming but this makes me wanna switch trades.... Imagine the easter eggs you could hide in that feature...

STUPID PIECE O S*** COMPUTER!!
"Think you'd be well of with a PC ey?"

WHO'S THE MAN!!!
"Steve Jobs"

MoKoNa^ · Apr 26, 2004, 08:23 AM

For some reason I never got the voice recognition thing to work on my TiBook 667, OS X.2.1

Never understood why... My girlfriend found it particularly amusing when I lost my temper and bellowed "COMPUTER! TELL ME A JOKE!!!" from the top of my loungs.

It can't be my accent, it's pretty flawless... Voice recognition was on and all of that... Weird... It all comes back to me now... Almost getting pissed just thinking about it.

Casper Crane · Apr 26, 2004, 10:46 AM

it is certainly cool that this software is built into the OS, but it hasn't really improved much (if at all) in the last 3 years.

i'd really like to see a strong voice recognition application come to the mac. from what i've read, ViaVoice is not very good compared to the Windows applications available.

David Pogue (NY Times Pundit) says he uses voice recognition software to compose most of his writing, but he has to do it on a PC and then copy the file over to his Mac because there is nothing good enough on the Mac.

i could do that as well, but sorry, i avoid using my pc whenever possible. does anyone use ViaVoice or Windows software to compose text?

the other thing that needs doing is bring voice command support to the bluetooth headsets now. the main reason that people cannot get the voice command system to work properly is because the mic is not close enough to their mouths. it only works for me if i shout at it, and that defeats the purpose.

apparently it works much better with a USB headset, but hey, this is the wireless age! let's cut the cord!

JHromadka · Apr 26, 2004, 11:48 AM

If you're using 10.3 and Terminal, use the say command to have OS X speak to you. This can be handy for some scripts.

Preciousss · Apr 26, 2004, 11:54 AM

Somewhat off-topic, but nonetheless.

Here's an article about screen reading software for the blind.

And this on the OS's spoken interface from Apple's site, hinting at changes to come. MOstly stuff we already know and have access to currently, but still very interesting.

Originally posted by Casper Crane:
it is certainly cool that this software is built into the OS, but it hasn't really improved much (if at all) in the last 3 years.

i'd really like to see a strong voice recognition application come to the mac.

rag on a muffin · Apr 26, 2004, 02:02 PM

more than 3 years, ive been using this since system 8.5.1 on my powermac 8500.

Drakino · Apr 26, 2004, 02:35 PM

For more fun with this, throw Unreal Tournament 2004 on the box. It uses speech commands to allow you to order the bots around. Each bot has a codename like Alpha and such that shows up next to their name.

It's a shame Windows won out over OS/2 Warp 4 back in 95 on the PC side. Warp 4 also had speech control built in for free, while even to this day XP does not include everything needed.

Altair · Apr 27, 2004, 01:05 AM

Originally posted by dannyillusion:
Haha, I do not have a fascination for programming but this makes me wanna switch trades.... Imagine the easter eggs you could hide in that feature...

STUPID PIECE O S*** COMPUTER!!
"Think you'd be well of with a PC ey?"

WHO'S THE MAN!!!
"Steve Jobs"

I actually programmed mine to respond to F*** you with an appropriate comment. It was quite funny until my friend talked to it too much and now it doesn't recognize my voice but works for him.

I need to figure out how to clean up it's files and get it to start all over again.

hikouka · Apr 27, 2004, 01:14 PM

I need to figure out how to clean up it's files and get it to start all over again. [/B][/QUOTE]

Great point.

Does anyone know how to set up your own speech commands???

For example when I say "Save this document" or "Quit this application" or the like the computer responds and opens the appropriate save box, BUT, then I have to physically reach over (oh the strain of it all) and press the save or cancel button.

Is there anyway I can get her to hear "save" and "cancel" for starters?

After all communication is the key . . .

Preciousss · Apr 27, 2004, 04:09 PM

I didn't mess around with it enough to give you a definitive answer, but I think you have to write some AppleScripts for any new commands that you want to add.

Somewhat related, if you look up the Speakable Items folder, you'll find that application-specific commands have their own folders (Mail, IE, etc.). Since I was feeling lazy, I made Safari speakable and dragged the IE items over to the new Safari folder. It takes about 15 min. to stick once you create new commands though. :-)

Originally posted by hikouka:
I need to figure out how to clean up it's files and get it to start all over again.

Great point.

Does anyone know how to set up your own speech commands???

For example when I say "Save this document" or "Quit this application" or the like the computer responds and opens the appropriate save box, BUT, then I have to physically reach over (oh the strain of it all) and press the save or cancel button.

Is there anyway I can get her to hear "save" and "cancel" for starters?

After all communication is the key . . . [/B][/QUOTE]

t500 · Apr 27, 2004, 04:20 PM

I picked up a copy of Via Voice for $10 on ebay. It works pretty well on my 1.8x2 G5. Its great for composing emails. I have not tried it out on my power book...

T500