[ebuddy]

You never see any talk about this, but it occurred to me that WOW, I could say something like "WAKE" and have my computer pop on? I mean, does it really work this way?

[Diggory Laycock]

No - not in the way that you specifically mentioned - but yes - roughly like that.

Let me put that a bit more clearly - No, you cannot get the computer to wake on a command - because the Speech Recognition Server must be running to recognise - and it can't be running if your computer is asleep.

However, when your computer is awake it will recognise any phrase that matches the name of an item in the Speakable Items folder. So you have to define what it will recognise.

In Panther Speakable Items has been upgraded - you can now speak dialog buttons, Menus and switch between apps with Speech.

e.g. "Switch to Mail"
e.g. "Edit Menu. Undo."

However, there is a bug in Panther that means that Speakable Items cannot execute the new form of applescripts - so if you want to define complex actions using applescript then you'll have to find an old copy of Script Editor (before version 2) that can save scripts as Compiled Scripts.

[hmpff]

Oh thank you! I've been trying to get Speech Recognition to recognize the new applescripts I made in Panther, but it would never work. The only way I could get it to work was to save the applescript as an application, but I had to wait for the app to boot everytime I said the command. I'll try to get my hands on an old version of Script Editor.

[:haripu:]

A quick question from me too: Does speach recognition on OSX also suck when you are native to the English language?

I tried it a few times and it wouldn't recognize my commands in about 80 percent of the times. And I cannot imagine my pronounciation is THAT bad (at least my English speaking friends never complain).

[ebuddy]

What percentage of your commands would you say is responded to by your Mac? After an hour at it I began to feel like a sort of idiot repeating myself to a machine that won't listen. I've got humans and dogs for that.

I get to about 3-4 bars of signal in the speakable items input levels and I see that the Mac "hears" what I'm saying, but doesn't always confirm and perform the task. I was playing chess and it began to get frustrating. "Computer..pawn A2 to A4." COMPUTER, PAWN A2 TO A4!!!! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR EVER LOVIN'...COMPUTER ROOK H1 TO H7!!!!! It moves A1 to A7. DOHHHH! I did however notice that the keyboard channel on mix was muted thus routing "in" to computer as well so...you never know what could cause an issue. I also had it set to require stating; "computer" before every single command and that requires more of the computer's discernment.

Overall, I had a great time though it hasn't proved effective or useful to me. I may have discovered part of why you don't see much hype about it on the net. In it's perfected form it's a lot like the Starship Enterprise computer. "Computer, I need the subset values of neutrons in the Orion Belt.." The Computer eloquently replies; " The subset values are dynamic sir and have no calculable value as they are ever changing." Sweet. As for my machine? I'm just glad it hasn't told me to screw off yet. Though I find Victoria to be quite intriguing. I've always liked the way she looks. She sounds like a Speak and Spell which means she's the slow gazelle and I may have a shot at her.