Voice recognition software is that particular field of computer science that deals with designing computer systems that can recognize spoken words. The computer "listens" to our voice and translates what we say into written words that appear on the screen. But make sure you know something when using this kind of software: the computer listens to your voice, to what you are saying, but it does not know what you mean by that.That's the job of another branch of computer science, that is natural language processing. So if your sentences don't have a meaning, don't blame the computer for that.
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However, there are a few necessary requirements when using a voice recognition software: speak slowly and clearly, uttering every word separately and making pauses between words, so that the computer will be able to understand what you are saying. Many times a computer needs previous training with the person who speaks in order to get accustomed with the voice tonality and the specific features and accent. This kind of systems are called speaker dependent, because they depend on only one person to talk to them and will have difficulty in translating what other people are saying. These systems are usually used for personal purposes.

During the past few years people who work in this field of computing have made huge efforts to make computers understand normal speaking, that is the person who is speaking does not have to pause after every word and pronounce it accurately; the computer will still understand the words. There are some voice recognition systems that allow you to speak naturally that are available on the market.

Usually this software is used by people who are disabled (they can't use their hands to write on the keyboard) or their hands are always busy with something else and the person who speaks can't allow to waste time, so he/she does both things at the same time. But that was the case initially, when software cost quite a lot and was bought only by people in desperate need of this kind of system. But, in time, this industry is advancing as we speak and is improving very quickly and this results in a price diminishing for these products. What I'm trying to say is that now anyone can afford a voice recognition software and that can save us a lot of time. You don't have to sit and write using your keyboard, but you may even walk and do other things. The best example for the utility of this software is the case of surgeons that are always very busy operating on people and saving their lives, but they still have to fill in some hospital forms describing the surgery process. Their time is, as you can imagine, very precious so some of them thought of doing both jobs at the same time: they described all the operations performed during surgery with a loud voice and the computer did the paperwork for them. Isn't that remarkable?A good example of software used for this purpose is Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional.



We should mention the disabled people who are very thankful to computer science because it enabled them to communicate better and to use the internet or the computer without any help, thus creating some independence for them, which is very important. Some systems do more than just translate your speech into written words: some computers use a kind of voice recognition software that allows them to respond to human voice commands and act according to them. For example you can tell the computer to open a certain file, or send an email to a particular person or search certain information on the web. Rumor has it that this kind of software based on voice commands will be used for the future GPS use or for mobile phones.

Here are some of the most used packages of voice recognition software in the world:

- Apple Speech Recognition - lets your computer understand what you are saying and at the same time offers you a new dimension of interacting with your own computer by voice. You don't have to train it  and you can even speak naturally, without pauses. You can add new words to its vocabulary. And, which is most important, there the vice versa version, that is the computer can speak with you and "read" the messages that appear on the screen. This feature is very important because it allows blind people to use a computer, too, which is a big step forward for them. You can choose from 26 different voices and adjust the computer's speaking rate.

- ArithmeticTalk is designed for children between six and tenand has an entry format just like a textbook. Children can use it to do calculations: addition, subtraction, division and multiplication by voice.



- Conversa Messenger - due to its continuous speech recognition, you can use this system at home or when you are out and you can speak naturally. It's a modern and comfortable way to access your email, read or send messages or send faxes by voice. I thin it can replace a human secretary at any time. It is perfect for home or small businesses.

- Conversa Web is the variant for the internet. Just say the url address and your computer immediately accesses that particular web page. You can utter the basic functions and the computer will do what you say: go back, refresh, scroll down. It is compatible with all versions of Windows.



- Dragon Naturally Speaking - we already talked about it, but I must mention several different versions of this software such as: Dragon Naturally Speaking Essentials - basics for children aged 9 and older, a vocabulary of 250.000 words and multiple user support. DNS Preferred allows speakers to dictate directly in a Microsoft Word document.Additional features: hands free mouse pointer control, playback of recorded speech, text-to-speech, etc. DNS Professional allows you to dictate to your computer up to 160 words per minute, in a natural voice. This system can fill out forms for you and it is also available with specialized dictionaries for different fields of activity. There are also the versions of DNS Standard and DNS For Teens.

- Eloquently Stated

- The Eloquent Physician

- Realize Voice

- Interactive Voice Assistant from Wizzard Software

- Math Braiile Talk - used by the blind people

- Power Secretary

- Philips Free Speech 2000.

And the list can continue.

People have always liked to make the place where they were living look nice, because this makes our existence more pleasant and we love to come home. Since ancient times rich people hired gardeners to take care of the castle garden and to make it beautiful. Of course this was reserved to upper classes, because poor people did not have large gardens or the means to embellish them. This was the ancestor of landscaping. English gardens in the eighteenth century were famous for their beautiful plant and tree arrangement, the nice combination of lanes and hedges. In time this turned into mere science. Nowadays people go to school and university to study landscaping design and architecture and they have diplomas that allow them to be called professional landscaping designers.
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I think everybody would like to have a perfect garden in front of a perfect house. But this is only possible in such countries like USA, where all cities and towns are made of houses with lawns and gardens. In the east European countries that belonged to the communist block the architecture of the cities simply does not allow it: people live in tall blocks of flats and they are separated by small pieces of land covered with grass.But even here there has been a tendency of borrowing the western ideas and habits and people started moving to the countryside where they can have a house with a garden and can enjoy working in it or getting a professional to make it nice.

Some people just like to do everything by themselves. That is why when they buy a house they begin transforming it according to their taste and, of course, their imagination. If do draw something on paper with your ideas of changing your garden, that's called landscape design. But not all the people have a vivid imagination or what they call it "green fingers". But they still want to organize the garden and the lawn alone, without professional help. Not to mention the fact that landscape designers and architects are very expensive. You all know that there is a real "fashion" in garden landscaping lately, that is the Zen gardens. They are very beautiful and peaceful, not to mention fashionable, but they cost a lot.

That's where landscape design software comes to help you. Software engineers saw an opportunity in designing software for people who want to learn the basics of landscape design and transformed their ideas in some nice software applications that everybody can use.

This kind of software allows you to choose all the elements you want to place in your garden, then you get to choose the colour, the texture, the shape and lines, everything virtually. You can make the necessary changes without ruining the garden and starting work all over again. That's because you do all these things on your computer. You can picture your dream garden before you even start working on it. You have everything you can possibly need there, even assistance and advice and, to many people's delight, some of this software is for free on the internet. When all the planning is done, you can choose materials and plants, trees, bushes and hedges from the internet, too, with the help of specialized on-line services of delivery and e-shops. Is't it just great?



But, as you can see in this picture, you can apply this kind of software not only to your garden, but to your house, too. You can arrange the furniture in different ways even before you buy it, Actually I think you'd better make the design first and then order your furniture according to the ambiance you want to create, for example you can make a blue room, where all the things inside are colored in blue. You can see what shape and size  furniture fits your house best and make your dream come true.

The software has different levels of complexity , depending on the size of the garden or home, depending on the sum of money you want to invest and how much material you are willing to buy in order to get the best results.

It's very important to be realistic and choose the design that fits your plans best. For example BBC offers a free landscape design software called Virtual Garden Designer and it can help you visualize your garden after you have done all the changes in it. This software only teaches you the basics, so don't expect very sophisticated design and features. Still it's useful and FREE.



Another tip is to compare the results of what you want to obtain, using different software. BHG Plan a Garden Landscape software offers different versions, but the easiest one is for free. The best thing about this software is that you can "drag and drop" things and move them around until you are satisfied with the result. This makes your job a lot easier.

If you want a 3D image of your dream garden or home you can use Google Sketch-up that has an impressive 3D modeling for free. Of course it has limited features, like all free stuff, but it's important to visualize your ideas, especially in 3D format.

Smart Draw Landscape Design Software offers you for free some ideas about landscaping.



I found something quite different from the other software in this field: Free Landscape Design by Show Off. What's different about it is the fact that you must be online when you use it. You can send a picture of your garden or yard and it will be adapted to the individual features that you choose and then you can see visualize your design.



But the final result will depend on how good the designer is because the software does what you tell it to do, not what you want in fact. So do your best and plan beforehand (on paper, using a basic or sophisticated software) and that can help you avoid some costly mistakes that you wouldn't realize otherwise.It doesn't matter what kind of software you choose, it's a lot better than starting digging and having no idea what will be the final result.

Nowadays, it has become very important for everyone to have as many accessories and special features as possible included on his or her computer. Everyone wants to be able to use their personal computers for as many activities as possible, so as to do the necessary work activities or just for establishing new ways of having fun. In this respect, the idea of getting the possibility to have Bluetooth for their computer hardware has become more and more familiar among the consumers these days.
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In general, the so-called hand held devices that are able to support the Bluetooth technology do not require for the consumers to install any type of extra software so as to use it. Among these types of devices there can be mentioned the smart phones and the PDAs. What is required is for the costumer to access the connectivity configuration specific menu for that certain device and to turn on the Bluetooth so as to become able to use it or certain activities. This process is required because most of the devices have this technology turned off for the minimization of power consumption, whenever the customer does not need to work with this type of technology. What is important is that we should know that there is a specific sign that appears on the screen whenever we turn the Bluetooth on, and in this way, we do not risk any unnecessary consumption of power to occur, when this technology is not needed.  The Bluetooth device is very often used for sharing certain files with other persons, by connecting with their own Bluetooth technology devices. For the sharing process to take place it is necessary for both of the devices to be turned on by the consumer, otherwise the connection cannot be established.

Nowadays, people have become more and more familiar with the idea of Bluetooth for the computer hardware. The first step for accessing this type of technology is to check whether your computer has or does not have a Bluetooth hardware installed. In the case of our computer not having this device installed you can do this by using a USB or a bluetooth card. What is important is for your computer operating system to support this device, because it is known the fact that all of the computer systems can provide different levels of this type of support.

An important aspect related to the way in which we can use Bluetooth on our computer hardware is to actually know how to use different Bluetooth types of headsets on a computer. It is very important because knowing all of the advantages of using this technology on our PC is not enough. We have to be able to really understand how it works before we can use it. One of the advantages that we have when using this technology on our computers is that of being able to check emails using the Blackberry. This type of technology has certainly made our lives easier, as it cannot only be used on a computer but also on many other devices, such as our phones. It has become available for us the possibility to answer our calls while doing other things in the same time, such as driving, or to listen to music using a pocket PC and even to receive text messages and to organize certain activities using a calendar.

It is very important to know how we can become able to do all of these things. The first step is to have a specific device which can assure for us the Bluetooth technology. There are numerous and various offers on the market on all sorts of devices which can offer us the possibility to access this type of technology. It is very important to gather as much information as possible before deciding on one or another device because the prices are different among the offers and they do not always really balance the quality that they present to the price that they require for acquiring that product. Also, it is very important that a person, after having decided what product to purchase to actually check the product, so as to avoid any risk of bad functioning of the product or of the case in which you can realize that the product is simply not the best one for you as it is not comfortable enough.

When discussing about Bluetooth for your computer hardware it is also necessary that you turn on the Bluetooth headset for a possible connection. Also, by using this type of devices, you gain the possibility to configure them by choosing your own setting preferences. There is also the possibility of accessing the troubleshooting guide in the case in which you might not succeed in configuring the necessary settings.

Also important for the use of Bluetooth technology on computer hardware are the speakers. Bluetooth computer speakers are different from the other types of speakers. This is firstly because they do not require any sort of cable or wire to be used. Secondly, they need to be put within a certain range distance from the computer system. Finally, the most important aspect is that the Bluetooth technology offers with the aid of these devices the possibility to get great sound quality from the computer system.

Nowadays, we live in a world of very advanced technology. Certainly, in the future the technology will get even more advanced, and different devices used nowadays for doing certain activities or for having fun will become better and better. Things are changing very fast and the specialists are creating newer and newer types of devices every day. Bluetooth technology has become well known nowadays and it is being used on different types of devices, which can be used in this way wireless. This type of technology is very useful for everyone to be able to use it nowadays more often.

Bluetooth computer hardware technology has also become very familiar and used. This is because it gives the consumers the possibility to use their computers and not only, by connecting them to other devices. In this way, we can do even more types of activities at once, and in this way, to spare as much time as possible.