Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products Inc., is upgrading its Voice Xpress software suite with a host of Web-centric features, broader support for office applications, and a claim of “dramatic” improvements in speech recognition accuracy. Voice Xpress 5.0 comes with an application-specific cheat sheet that loads automatically when common programs like WordPerfect are used. Sample Commands load tailored for the application in use and come with the typical voice commands for common tasks. The update also supports e-mail, Internet browsing, and chat. Users can now navigate Web links by speaking numbers that are embedded in hyperlinks in both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Besides Web applications, Voice Xpress now supports a variety of e-mail programs plus Microsoft Money, Quicken, and WordPerfect. Its support for Microsoft Office 97 and 2000 is expanded. An “aaa and umm” filter is added, along with a new text-to-speech application called RealSpeak that reads back text. Voice Xpress 5.0 is scheduled to hit retail shelves this June and will ship in four versions, starting with the US$49.99 Standard. The high-end Voice Xpress Mobile Professional costs $229.99 and comes with a handheld voice recorder. Lernout & Hauspie recommends the software run on at least a 266-MHz PC running Microsoft Windows 95, 98, or 2000 with at least 64MB of memory and 250MB of available hard disk space. Lernout & Hauspie, of Beligum, can be found on the Web at http://www.lhs.com.
Prices listed are in US currency.