Up until now, mainly dictation software and software for disabled people made use of speech recognition, but the most recent advances have brought speech recognition to the brink of becoming an established technology in the mass market.

Speech in theory is a more natural way to articulate commands, and a proper working technology will eventually replace other input devices partially or even completely.

Firesay is an interesting add-on for Firefox, as it adds speech recognition to the web browser so that users can use voice commands to issue commands in the browser. While it is not mentioned anywhere on the page, it appears to be only compatible with Windows related PCs. It would be great if Linux, Mac, and users with Windows XP could test the add-on to see if it is compatible with their operating system as well.

The developers recommend to train the speech recognition in the Windows Control Panel. Two steps are necessary: Step one to make sure the microphone is setup correctly, and to read aloud a short text to train the speech recognition software. Once that is done all is set to test some voice commands in Firefox.

Firesay is currently offered as a beta add-on, which means it has some problems associated with it that will be sorted out over time. It supports a limited number of voice commands, including:

• go to, e.g. go to facebook, to load a website in a new tab and switch to that tab. Only a limited number of sites are currently supported, see the list here.
• open, the same as go to
• launch, the same as go to
• Search Google keyword, e.g. search google ghacks, to search in Google for the keyword.
• Close Tab, to close the active tab
• Watch, Watch the Office, to watch the TV show the Office at Hulu.

Firesay could become a helpful Firefox add-on. It’s limited command set, and problems with the voice recognition, reduce its usefulness at the moment. If the developers sort those out, and add more commands, it could become a must have extension for many Firefox users.

Firesay can be downloaded from the Mozilla Add-ons Repository.

Update: Firesay seems to have been discontinued for Firefox. It is now available for the Chrome web browser.

I’m quickly describing the installation before I continue to write about the functionality of the assistant. I did download the newest version of Ultra Hal Assistant and the Text to Speech Reader. After the installation I had to customize the program by selecting a character, typing in my name and that of the AI, choosing one of the voices from two female and eight male voices and selecting an interface. I was then asked if I wanted to see the tutorial which I would recommend to anyone who wants to try the software.

The artificial intelligence learns from your conversations. It will ask questions and remember the answers. My first conversation with him started with the question if I was male or female. Conversations will get more complex after time but this seems to take a while. Here is a list of tasks and things that the assistant can do for your:

• Start programs – The Assistant will not open all programs but many default ones from Windows and all that have a shortcut on your desktop.
• Note and remind of appointments – you could for instance say “have to work tomorrow at 9:35 am” and the assistant will get the meaning and remind you of the work. You can set the amount of days and minutes for the reminder.
• Remember emails and start email program – (Martin’s email is martin@mysega.de, to write an email write or say “Email Martin” which will open the default email program.
• Remember phone numbers and call numbers (if supported by modem)
• Information about local weather and local news once set in the options. Only valid for the United States
• Define words for you. Ask “What is Art” and the assistant will define art for your.
• Read text. You do need the add-on called Text to Speech Reader for this option. It can be downloaded for free from the website.
• Perform basic calculations.
• Dictate text. If you activate Speech Recognition in the options you can use your speech to do all of the above plus dictate text to the assistant

One very nice feature of this software is that you can setup the assistant as an AIM Bot. Other people would then be able to chat with the bot while your computer is connected to the network.

The Ultra Hal website offers several free plugins in several categories that add for instance new 3D-models to the program or install speech recognition plugins for commercial speech recognition softwares such as IBM Via Voice.

I would suggest that you download the trial version from the Zabaware website and test the assistant for yourself. It could boost your productivity especially with speech recognition enabled. My most used features are so far “write email” and “start program” but it is somehow very interesting to simply chat with the assistant .