Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Yeah, we love GPS around here as much as the next guy, but it really doesn’t impress our lady friends too much when our mellifluous prose gets interrupted by Cro Magnon-like gestures while we have to ask for directions on our nav units. We’d much prefer to use a phrase like “Find me a hotel in Paris in the seizième arrondissement, play Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Je t’aime‘ and adjust for mood lighting — s’il te plaît” and have our ride respond instantly. Well, save for that last request, apparently plain English queries (or 13 other languges) to a GPS stystem are now possible thanks to software by IBM built onto Pioneer’s new AVIC-HD1BT nav unit. It’s loaded up with a 30GB hard drive (20GB for maps and the rest for music), a DVD player and an iPod connection of some sort. Although Pioneer claims that the AVIC-HD1BT is for the European-only non-”luxury car market” driver (sorry, us Lexus-driving Yankees will have to suffer), it still doesn’t come cheap: €2,500 ($3,145).

[Via IDG News Service]

 

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For people who type a lot or suffer sore fingers and hands, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 is the best tool available for dictating text and commanding a Web browser by voice, despite the gradual adjustments needed to adjust to your personal manner of speaking.

ViaVoice is an affordable, if buggy, program for basic speech-to-text dictation. To avoid using your hands, however, we recommend the Windows-only Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.

ViaVoice is an affordable, if buggy, program for basic speech-to-text dictation. To avoid using your hands, however, we recommend the Windows-only Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.

ViaVoice is an affordable, if buggy, program for basic speech-to-text dictation. To avoid using your hands, however, we recommend the Windows-only Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.

ViaVoice is an affordable, if buggy, program for basic speech-to-text dictation. To avoid using your hands, however, we recommend the Windows-only Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.

ViaVoice is an affordable, if buggy, program for basic speech-to-text dictation. To avoid using your hands, however, we recommend the Windows-only Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.

ViaVoice is an affordable, if buggy, program for basic speech-to-text dictation. To avoid using your hands, however, we recommend the Windows-only Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 8 does a great job of letting you take care of most computing needs with voice commands instead of the keyboard--a godsend for those who suffer from repetitive stress injuries.