Over the last couple of days, I’ve been playing with Dragon Naturally Speaking version 9. For some time I've had the ambition of using voice recognition to create documents because I think better when I don't have to type. At the same time, I've also been playing with Windows Media Center (sic) and that has been an experience unto itself. However, put the two together and I think you can see at least partially, the way of the future in terms of personal computing.

I find it absolutely fascinating that I can be watching the Formula One Grand Prix from Valencia while dictating this Hydrapinion piece, burning to DVD tonight’s episode of Dr Who and recording the closing ceremony of the Olympics.

And while dictating this piece and watching the F1, I'm listening to its commentary on wireless headphones from Plantronics and doing a backup to external USB drive.

But I have to say the biggest thing that amazes me is that the accuracy of Dragon version 9. It’s so damned good I’ve had to only correct three words so far - one of them being ‘Hydrapinion’ which is to be - expected and capitalising the ‘w’ in Dr Wh0.
I am also very impressed, unlike a lot of my peers it would seem, with Windows Media Center which does admittedly take a little bit of fiddling to get it running correctly. There is more to learn and I intend to do that, but once I tweaked the system set correctly to pick up the appropriate DTV and not PAL signals then that side of things just simply worked. Put the Ice TV electronic program guide (EPG) into the mix - and that also took a bit of work to get properly integrated - burning to DVD and all the other things that Windows Media Center is designed to do and it is working quite well for me. I have yet to play around with adding a music or image library but that should be relatively easy. There’s also the situation of an extended, and that's a big step (so that the laptop downstairs which is capturing the TV signal via a Compro USB Tuner can be wirelessly sent upstairs to a Sony 52 inch LCD Bravia).

So far I am impressed. The next step is to learn more and try and calculate just how far this can all go. Maybe, just maybe, there is a whole new magazine in this.