http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/speech.html

When will PCs get something like this? I just checked out the other day on my friend's imac and thought it was pretty cool.

There are many voice recognition programs for the PC. None quite as integrated into the OS, though. Not sure how they stack up to the OS X stuff, but I can't imagine they're that far behind.

Anyway, who cares about VR for PC's, we want VR for the empeg.

When will PCs get something like this?

PCs already have this, and it's as integrated as the Mac has had it for years. But noone switched over from Windows 3.1 to OS/2 Warp 4, and instead they switched to Windows 95.

Voice recognition generally works well enough for simple commands, and thats all the Mac supports with the built in program. Plenty of third party programs like IBM Via Voice exist for both platforms.

As far as the text-to-speech, I have never seen it as integrated as it is on the Mac. It's amusing to play with. For example, my machine speeks "Securing workstation in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" when I leave the area, and "Authorized user detected, unlocking workstation" when I return. And for those wondering, it knows when I leave and come back based on it seeing my Bluetooth phone leaving and entering its range.

it knows when I leave and come back based on it seeing my Bluetooth phone

........ Flash Bast*rd

That is incredibly cool.

How do you set that up?

How do you set that up?

1. Plug in standard DLink Bluetooth adaptor to USB Plug
2. Download SEC
3. Set up proximity sensor applescripts

Windows still dosen't have a completly standard bluetooth stack, while OS X does. So it frees up the developers to write cool apps, and not drivers to get something to work.