NBC NIGHTLY NEWS, 12/30/1993 
           
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          BRIAN WILLIAMS:  Have you ever sat down and had a good long 
          talk with your computer?  These days, PC's can recognize 
          the human voice which promises to revolutionize 
          communications in a big way.  NBC's George Lewis reports 
          tonight in part four of our series, "Almost 2001." 
           
          TAPE REPORT NARRATED BY GEORGE LEWIS: 
           
          (NARR)  25 YEARS AGO, THE FILM 2001:  A SPACE ODYSSEY, 
          PROJECTED A FUTURE WHERE COMPUTERS WOULD MAKE LIFE EASIER 
          FOR SPACE TRAVELERS.  MACHINES THAT UNDERSTOOD THE SPOKEN 
          WORD. 
           
          FAST FORWARD NOW...TO ALMOST 2001 AND COMPUTERS ARE DOING 
          JUST THAT. 
           
          EAVESDROP AT BOLT BERANEK AND NEWMAN   IN BOSTON.. A 
          LEADING COMPANY IN VOICE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY.  HERE, 
          COMPUTERS TRANSCRIBE THE SPOKEN WORD DICTATED IN THE 
          BUSINESS LINGO OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL... 
           
          (SOUND OF MAN DICTATING INTO MACHINE) "THE BELL COMPANIES 
          ARE HOPING ELECTRONIC MAIL AND VOICE MAIL WILL BECOME A 
          MAJOR REVENUE SOURCE." 
           
          (NARR)  THERE ARE SOME PROJECTIONS THAT VOICE RECOGNITION 
          TECHNOLOGY WILL BE PART OF A 25 BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS BY 
          THE YEAR 2001.   
           
          AND CREATE 100,000 NEW JOBS. 
           
          (GEORGE LEWIS ON CAMERA)  "What's happening here is part of 
          a whole trend in technology.  To make it easier to use and 
          less intimidating.  Like the air conditioning in a modern
          office building.  You don't notice it until something goes 
          wrong." 
           
          (PAUL SAFFO--INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE)  "The most important 
          technology will be the technology that's invisible." 

          (NARR)  PEOPLE HAVE BEGUN TO USE PERSONAL DIGITAL 
          ASSISTANTS, LIKE APPLE'S NEWTON, TO MAKE MORE EFFICIENT USE 
          OF THEIR TIME.  ONE EXPERT SAYS VOICE RECOGNITION IS A 
          PERFECT ADD-ON TO THESE DEVICES. 
           
          (BOB MEISEL--VOICE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY EXPERT)  "Where 
          you might see speech replacing keyboards and other means of 
          data entry, is on small portable devices where you just 
          don't have room for a keyboard or even where it's 
          inconvenient to do something like handwriting analysis." 
           
          (SOUND--guy calling out phone numbers to telephone) 
           
          (NARR)  PHONE CALLS WILL BE MADE WITHOUT DIALING ANYTHING.  
          THE FEATURE IS ALREADY ON ONE CELLULAR PHONE SYSTEM IN 
          DALLAS. 
           
          TELEVISION PROGRAMS FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED WILL BE 
          CAPTIONED AUTOMATICALLY. 
           
          AT AMERICATECH...THE REGIONAL PHONE COMPANY HEADQUARTERED 
          IN CHICAGO, EXECUTIVE DORSEY RULEY USES A VOICE RECOGNITION 
          SYSTEM TO DICTATE MEMOS, READ ELECTRONIC MAIL, AND MAKE 
          PHONE CALLS. 
           
          (NATSOT---"Hello, Sherrie?") 
           
          (NARR)  RULEY IS A QUADRIPLEGIC AND HE  SAYS THE TECHNOLOGY 
          HAS IMPORTANT IMPLICATIONS FOR THE QUARTER MILLIONAMERICANS 
          WHO ARE DISABLED WITH SPINAL CORD INJURIES. 
           
          (DORSEY RULEY--AMERITECH STRATEGIC PLANNER)  "We wanna be a 
          link to a better life.  And when we come up with 
          applications like the voice control work station, we're 
          probably living up to that." 
           
          (NARR)  AT I.B.M....THEY'VE BEEN WORKING ON VOICE 
          RECOGNITION DEVICES THAT WILL HELP DOCTORS WRITE THEIR 
          REPORTS MORE UNDERSTANDABLY AND LEGIBLY. 
           
          (SOUND: medical jargon being spoken as it spills out on 
          screen) 
           
          (NARR)  THE IDEA BEHIND THESE SYSTEMS IS TO FREE UP THE 
          DOCTORS FROM FILLING OUT SO MANY REPORTS.  ONE SOUTHERN 
          CALIFORNIA CLINIC THAT JUST INSTALLED VOICE RECOGNITION 
          ESTIMATES IT WILL SAVE 400-THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR. 
           
          BACK AT BBN IN BOSTON, THEY'RE TESTING A VOICE RECOGNITION 
          SYSTEM THAT WILL HELP AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS. 
           
          (SOUND)--"U-S Air 324 fly heading two-one-zero." 
           
          (NARR)  COMPUTERS CAN BE PROGRAMMED TO EAVESDROP ON 
          COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN AIR AND GROUND... AUTOMATICALLY 
          RECOGNIZINGTHE CALL SIGNS OF EACH PLANE...AND DISPLAYING 
          THAT INFORMATION ON THE RADAR SCREEN.  THE FEDERAL          
          AVIATION ADMINISTRATION BEGINS INSTALLING THE EQUIPMENT IN 
          CONTROL TOWERS IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS. 
           
          INVISIBLE TECHNOLOGY THAT AIRLINE PASSENGERS WON'T NOTICE.  
          BUT IT WILL LIGHTEN THE LOAD ON THE AIR TRAFFIC 
          CONTROLLERS, IT WILL MAKE FLYING SAFER AND IT AND MUCH MORE 
          WILL BE A REALITY BY THE YEAR 2001. 
           
          GEORGE LEWIS, NBC NEWS, LOS ANGELES. 
           
          ===============END TAPED SPOT================= 
           
                    BRIAN WILLIAMS:  All week long here, we've been 
          asking our viewers who have access to the computer 
          communications system called the Internet to send us their 
          comments, and they sure have.  We've received thousands of 
          messages from across the U.S. and around the world and 
          though we can't respond to every one of them, we do thank 
          you.