Via Voice - gizmo or gimmic?

Advantages: recognition can be trained to a superb standard
Disadvantages: takes AGES to train accurately

...When I bought my new PC just over a year ago, it came bundled with this program. The advertising 'hype' would have you believe that you will never need to type another word or move your mouse ever again once you have this installed! I was a little disappointed to find that the version bundled with my PC only works with Lotus WordPro and no other program. Having said that, it does work well. But initially it didn't - it has taken many hours of training and word-processing work to get it to accurately recognise my voice. But now it does and it's very, very clever! To give you an idea of the accuracy you can expect: these days I can type three or four paragraphs before it mis-spells or mis-identifies a word or phrase. The moral of the tale: if you don;t need it, don't buy it - if you do, then persevere with it - it DOES work!...

djhendra 09.10.2000 · Read review
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Review of ViaVoice Pro 7.0 Complete package

My experience with ViaVoice

Advantages: Works well
Disadvantages: Typing can be faster and easier

...Hi, My experience with ViaVoice is with the Mac Millennium Edition, but I think that most of the points apply to all versions of the App. Now, The 80-pound package comes with just a short Manual, the CD rom and the headset, which is a nice Andrea Noise reducing one. It comes with multi-colour inserts to match the original Fruit-Flavour iMacs, and Graphite. Unfortunately, this does not help me any more since I upgraded to an iBook, which does not have a microphone port, and the Griffin iMic that I have needs an unpowered mic. So I now use a cheapo PC one! The software installs quickly, dumping about 300Mb of stuff on your HD. However, it needs you to read out a few stories to it so that it can recognise your voice. This takes at least an hour, and the Computer also takes quite a time to process this info. When you...

iMacfan 21.01.2002 · Read review
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Review of ViaVoice Pro 7.0 Complete package

Traveling Via Vias

Advantages: Lovely beach....the south of France, dahling
Disadvantages: Not much to do without a car

...If you want to bemuse a foreigner, send them to the bit of France from which I've just returned. Not satisfied with the usual 'one name per place' rule, you'll find references to the areas of Vias, Vias Plage and Vias sur Mer (on post cards, in brochures, on the internet) but, confusingly, only 2 different parts of town, the touristy end and the old French bit. ****** Travel We drove Manchester to Liverpool, flew Liverpool to Nimes, taxied to Nimes town centre, caught a train to Agde and then taxied to Vias Plage. Travelling days were long - in excess of 8 hours - but if you live in other parts of the UK, or are happy to pay a little more for your flights you can reduce the trip quite significantly by flying to Montpellier and then grabbing a cab from there. We chose the fun long way round instead, and paid £100 each...

zoe_page 19.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of Vias Plage

VIA CONDOTTI BARGAIN HUNTING

Advantages: Exclusive
Disadvantages: Expensive and pretentious

...Bargain hunting on Via Condotti? Surely that's a near impossibility. Why this is one of the most expen...oh, wait a minute, That should read BAR hunting. Much more sensible. The most famous fashion streets in Rome are the three parallel streets that all run into Via del Corso - Via Condotti, Via Borgognona and Via Frattina. And the most famous of these is Via Condotti, named after the channels that carried water to the nearby Agrippa thermal spa baths. But that's all water under the bridge now...as it were. These days, it's more about channelling hard cash into the fashion houses. It all started back in 1905 when Bulgari (who never learned to spell apparently) was first to spot the trend of people who had almost as much money as they had fashion sense but considerably more than common sense. Bulgari can, I suppose, be considered...

proxam 07.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Via Condotti

Voice recognition - educational benefits

Advantages: allow poor writers/physically handicapped to write
Disadvantages: long training time, must be used regularly for kids

...Imagine never having to touch your keyboard again. Imagine writing your ciao reviews simply by talking to your computer, and seeing the words magically appear on the screen. More importantly imagine school pupils with severe learning problems producing coherent essays by using their powers of speech alone. This is the scenario promised by voice recognition software. There are three main players in the field: IBM, Dragon and Phillips. I have used Dragon at home but have been working with IBM at school, primarily to help one pupil with very poor reading/writing but strong verbal abilities. This opinion is about the use of the product as an educational aid and will hopefully help parents and teachers to make informed choices. I began using IBM voice recognition software in January 2000. The pupil was a 13 year old boy who had...

colinlivingstone 05.04.2001 (20.04.2001) · Read review
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Review of ViaVoice Pro 7.0 Complete package

VOICE OF AN ANGEL

Advantages: Classic songs, superb vocals, the voice of an angel
Disadvantages: Absolutely none

...♪♫INTRODUCTION♪♫ I recently wrote a review of Alison Moyet?s Raindancing. In the conclusion, I said that she had recently released an album called ?Voice? ? in September 2004, and that I planned to buy it soon, so you can imagine my delight when Santa delivered it in my Christmas stocking! For a brief synopsis of Alison Moyet?s career see my previous review of Raindancing. I don?t want to fill this review with history, but rather concentrate on just how great this album is. This has got to be one of the most unique recordings released by any artist in a very long time. I knew I would like it, but I didn?t know that I would love it and feel as passionate about this release as I do. It truly is the most spectacular, amazing, stunning, exceptional, magnificent CD to hit the shelves in the last few years...

fantasybeliever 28.12.2004 · Read review
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Review of Voice - Alison Moyet

Hearing voices

Advantages: Original and very readable
Disadvantages: None

...the arrangements for his engagement are going through, he suddenly begins to hear voices; more specifically, the voice of a woman, who, for some reason, has sought him out. Tsuneo initially thinks that he is losing it and goes to see a psychiatrist. However, he manages to keep his problems quiet until the day that he attends his engagement party. The woman whose voice he can hear somehow begins to manipulate him into doing strange, out of character things, which leads to his boss asking him to take time off work to solve his mental health problems. Can Tsuneo find proof of the woman's existence? And what is her reason for contacting him? The characters The book is almost without exception about Tsuneo. At first glance, he seems to be a perfectly likeable young man, although he is perhaps a little weak-willed - he certainly seems unable to find...

sunmeilan 25.10.2006 · Read review
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Review of In Search of a Distant Voice - Taichi Yamada

Voices of a Distant Star

Advantages: Stunning visuals, fantastic music, touching storyline.
Disadvantages: Character models slightly off, naive core values are easily criticised.

...A former graphic designer, Makoto Shinkai is used to putting in long shifts on the computer. However, for one man to write, animate and produce an anime OVA is a staggering achievement. The result of his labour, Voices of a Distant Star, is an incredibly focused, heartfelt tale of two lovers separated by time and space. Over 25 minutes, these character?s relationships are explored and stretched to breaking point, with no time for filler material. The futuristic world is shown from the insular couple?s point of view; an eerily lonely setting that appears to reflect each other?s world view. That world is never satisfactorily developed, and the rather dull characters serve more as thematic vehicles, but despite narrative shortcomings it's still an impressive technical achievement. The sci-fi story that forces the separation of the pair...

pigeon_of_doom 12.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Voices Of A Distant Star (Animated) (DVD)

Get Shopping on Via del Corso.

Advantages: Plenty of variety, not all designer, lots of affordable places, food and cinema.
Disadvantages: You might fall in love with designer clothes in the windows!

.... Via del Corso runs from Piazza Venetia, below the Il Vittoriano monument in the center of Rome, all the way up to Piazza del Popolo in the north of the city. It's one of the biggest streets for shopping in Rome and is frequented by tourists and locals, looking for a variety of goods. There are no sites that would be of interest to a tourist on Via del Corso, but there are so many very nearby such as the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and Forum Romanum. So if you're doing a lot of walking around the city, then you're bound to find yourself on this street at some point. It's certainly well worth a visit as it's an interesting street with a good variety of shops and a good atmosphere. We can date the history of this road back to the time of the Roman Empire, when it was known as Via Flaminia and was known to take...

Ottavia 08.09.2008 (29.08.2008) · Read review
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Review of Via del Corso

Little Voice - Big film

Advantages: Everything
Disadvantages: Hmmm

...(can anyone remember her?) sat Little Voice. Oh come on lady, it'll be pants. "Why?" she bellowed in her demonic thoust-doth-question-me-mortal voice. Because it's ALWAYS on offer and they obviously can't shift them. "Well tough - We're watching it"...and we did The installation of a simple phone line introduces young pigeon fancier Billy to softly spoken LV. Living with her odious mother Mari, LV sits all day in her room listening to her departed father Frank's record collection while Mari complains, whines, and deludes herself into thinking that she's still attractive. When Mari brings Ray Say (her latest 'love') home, showbiz manager Ray bears witness to LV's amazing singing voice and immediately sets about trying to promote her. The shy and introverted LV tries her best but ultimately finds herself centre stage at Mr Boo's nightclub...

TheNeil 11.12.2000 (16.10.2001) · Read review
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Review of Little Voice (DVD)