ERIC A.
May 14, 2009, 05:58 PM
How would you like to give your house voice commands? "computer, turn on the living room lights!". You can do it and it is cheaper than you think.
Microsoft put out a text to speech program that works well and it is free, free, free! the only thing you need to buy is a high quality close talk microphone to get yourself started and if I can do it you can too!
to get started go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7D13964C-06FD-4BF9-B49C-814FAA6A86EA&displaylang=en) and make sure your computer meets all of the requirements. read through the download instructions and save it to your hard drive. I suggest saving it because their is a newer version and I am sure that they will not support this version much longer. the newer version does not have a voice program in it so don't download it (v 5.0 you want v4.0a). open it up and install it and follow the instructions, pretty simple.
another thing you have to have is the HCA Web server installed and running ( the ip version might work too). downloaded for free.
make sure everything is working and spend the time to train Microsoft voice to your voice, if not you will have problems. FYI not all sound cards support Microsoft voice, a problem I ran into before.
open up the file where Microsoft voice is and look for a file called run program commands, you should also make a shortcut on your desktop for this file. Also open up your web server. find what you want to control by voice, drag and drop it into voice commands, rename it by what voice command you want to use, i.e. "turn on bathroom lights".you will also have to follow the same steps to turn off the light as well. make sure microsoft voice is running and give it a shot. It should open up your web server and turn on your bathroom lights. You can close your web server by saying "close window".
Spend some time working with it and learning how to make it work and make some more voice commands. Read the instructions and follow them.
You can also use it to start other programs and make other voice shortcuts.
Use a good microphone or it will not work well at all.
speak "what can I say" and it will open up a list of voice commands that are already built in.
If you have problems let me know and maybe I can help but I am not a programmer so I am limited to past experience's only.
Have fun.
Microsoft put out a text to speech program that works well and it is free, free, free! the only thing you need to buy is a high quality close talk microphone to get yourself started and if I can do it you can too!
to get started go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7D13964C-06FD-4BF9-B49C-814FAA6A86EA&displaylang=en) and make sure your computer meets all of the requirements. read through the download instructions and save it to your hard drive. I suggest saving it because their is a newer version and I am sure that they will not support this version much longer. the newer version does not have a voice program in it so don't download it (v 5.0 you want v4.0a). open it up and install it and follow the instructions, pretty simple.
another thing you have to have is the HCA Web server installed and running ( the ip version might work too). downloaded for free.
make sure everything is working and spend the time to train Microsoft voice to your voice, if not you will have problems. FYI not all sound cards support Microsoft voice, a problem I ran into before.
open up the file where Microsoft voice is and look for a file called run program commands, you should also make a shortcut on your desktop for this file. Also open up your web server. find what you want to control by voice, drag and drop it into voice commands, rename it by what voice command you want to use, i.e. "turn on bathroom lights".you will also have to follow the same steps to turn off the light as well. make sure microsoft voice is running and give it a shot. It should open up your web server and turn on your bathroom lights. You can close your web server by saying "close window".
Spend some time working with it and learning how to make it work and make some more voice commands. Read the instructions and follow them.
You can also use it to start other programs and make other voice shortcuts.
Use a good microphone or it will not work well at all.
speak "what can I say" and it will open up a list of voice commands that are already built in.
If you have problems let me know and maybe I can help but I am not a programmer so I am limited to past experience's only.
Have fun.