The Clear Voice Of Success

EVERY time your satellite navigation system tells you where to turn, you can take heart in the fact the technology is an Australian innovation. And it's not just satnav systems to which Australia can lay claim. Any technology using a voice-activated system relies upon technology developed by Australian company Appen, one of the world's leading commercial providers of sophisticated text, speech and language technology resources.

Master Of Insolent Intimacy

BOOK REVIEW: Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir 1964-2006 By Gore Vidal Little, Brown, $49.95

Voice Of The Future

Appen Winner: Information and Communication Technology

Just Turn Left At The Big Criss-cross

I HAVE yet to learn the fundamentals of celestial navigation. I have learnt other complex things; how to double-knot my shoelaces, for example, and how to kick a tyre knowledgeably. But I have never plotted a simple course without coming to grief. Smug bystanders (there are many smug bystanders in my life) loftily explain that night navigation is a piece of urine - simply fix your gaze on the Southern Cross and all falls into place. They lie.

Talk To The Computer

What: ViaVoice for Windows Release 8.0, voice recognition software

Census Counts On A Sound Advance

Visible Voice offers its voicemail breakthrough to national reckoning.

Hi-tech Essentials

Apple IMAC PC in 'snow' $3195. iBook in 'indigo' $3195. Apple Computers Australia. 13 36 22. VDO Dayton navigation. $2369. www.dayton.com. Warning, warning! Lost in Space B9 robot. $59.95. Comic Kingdom 02 9267 3629. Melbourne deliveries available. Lego Mindstorms R2D2. $143. Toys R Us 1 800

High-tech Hits The Road

There's now almost nothing you can't do in your car, as Victoria Young discovers. CARS will soon resemble portable living rooms, capable of carrying all the entertainment and information technology you expect at home. And voice activated technology is also on the way so you can keep your eyes

The Car That Ate $14 Million

A $14 million car featuring a voice-activated system recognising 40 commands is set to attract more than a passing glance at ICOM -2000 at the Novotel Northbeach. The aXcessaustralia concept car was built by the automotive components industry to show overseas car manufacturers the products and te

Satnav Comes Down To Earth

Susan Bredow doubted the value of satellite navigation - until she tried it. atellite navigation, until recently found only in the plush interiors of top-end BMWs, is now available in a very reasonably priced car. Hyundai has fitted a top-of-the-range Philip's Carin 520 navigation system as

Dittman's Ride Still One For History Books

IN A quiet moment in the jockeys' room at Rosehill on Saturday - before all hell broke loose in the stewards' room - Jack Denham sat on a bench alongside Mick Dittman. "Don't let anyone tell you you've lost it," Denham said, his voice soft but his words strong. "That was the best r

Day-to-day Work Is Now Data-way Work

Increasingly, work is where you find it. For many this is still in an office, but for a growing number of people it could be at home, in the field or on the road. These "teleworkers" are some of the first people to benefit from the spread of high-quality voice and data communication l

Discover Laws Unto Himself

YOU'VE probably heard about the John Laws barbecue sauces, the John Laws cookbook, the John Laws country music CD and John Laws books of irreverent logic. If you haven't, that's OK. You've obviously been on another planet. You'll still recognise The Voice as it keeps the dream alive. Not conte

Soon You'll Talk To Your Pc And It Will Do As You Say

Computers will eventually respond to voice commands and hand gestures. Sue Lowe finds out how software is changing. IT WAS hard enough to navigate computer systems back when the only place you had to get around was your own hard disk. Now, with CD-ROMs, computer networks and the Internet, that s

Sat.nav A Matter Of Course

THE self-navigating car will be on Australian roads soon after Christmas. BMW, in partnership with Telstra and Philips, will introduce the first "smart" satellite-guided navigation system on its flagship 7 Series models. The system will be a full colour electronic street directory that

Goodbye Gregory's? <p>goodbye Gregory's?

Street directories are on the road to extinction. In-car satellite navigation systems arrive in Australia next month. Phil Scott gets told where to go. Imagine a map-reading partner who never confused left with right, who never lost the plot and who always knew which lane to be in or exactly how

The Joy Of Dirt

FOUR-wheel drivers tend to look and act pretty much like everybody else. That is, until we see a forest trail that looks like it might go someplace interesting. Or a pair of wheel ruts leading across the beach and off into the dunes. That's when a small, still voice in the back of our minds starts c

Vendors Net Navigation Tools To Go

THE INFORMATION revolution is spurring the big software producers to scramble after Internet support in their operating systems. For example, Novell will offer a program called Corsair, which is expected to provide Internet access for NetWare users. Another Novell program, Ferret, will offer us