GFT Group Inc. Enables Voice Control of DVD and Media Playback on PC

The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD 1.1 are now available from GFT Group Inc.
at the Petrana web site http://www.petrana.net. A trial version for
evaluation and demonstration purposes is available for immediate download. 
The trial version will cease working after 100 uses. 

The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD enable persons with difficulty using their
hands to easily and comfortably play DVD movies and videos for education,
training, and recreation on their computer. Persons with spinal cord
injuries, arthritis, neuropathy, repetitive strain injuries, and various
other conditions may benefit from using the Petrana voice commands for DVD.  

The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD enable owners of Home Theater Systems that
use a computer as the DVD and other media player to easily and comfortably
operate and control their Home Theater System hands-free without a keyboard,
mouse, or traditional remote-control. The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD are
one component of the full Petrana system.  

Petrana is an artificial personal assistant who talks to the computer user in
spoken English and operates computer applications for the user easily,
comfortably, and enjoyably, giving the user free use of his or her hands and
freedom of movement. GFT Group Inc. is a private research and development
company with offices in Mountain View, California and Maryland. The research
and development division of GFT Group in Mountain View is developing Petrana.
The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD are the first component of Petrana
available for purchase by the general public.  

"Watch a movie with Petrana!" said John McGowan, President of the Research
and Development Division of GFT Group and the creator of Petrana. "Petrana
makes your computer into a friend who knows your name. Petrana, a computer
projector, and a wireless microphone system transform your computer into the
computer for the 21st-century, the talking wall display computers of
futuristic 20th-century movies and television shows. It's fun. It's more
comfortable than 20th-century computers. Buy Petrana and be the first person
on your block to step into the 21st-century."  

The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD require Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Professional, Medical, or Legal 8.1, 8.0, 7.0, 7.2, or 7.3. Dragon
NaturallySpeaking Professional, Medical, or Legal 8.1 is recommended. Dragon
NaturallySpeaking Professional is a high-end sophisticated commercial
speech-recognition program from ScanSoft Corp. The Petrana Voice Commands for
DVD will not work with lesser versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking such as
the Standard or Preferred versions. The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD also
require the widely used InterVideo WinDVD 6, 5 or 4 DVD player software.  The
InterVideo WinDVD 6 software is recommended. A computer fast enough to run
both Dragon NaturallySpeaking and InterVideo WinDVD while playing back a DVD
video is required. A clock speed of at least 1GHz is recommended.  

Persons who are completely dependent on Dragon NaturallySpeaking should
exercise caution in using the Petrana VoiceCommands for DVD. The voice
confirmation feature of the Petrana VoiceCommands turns off the microphone
while speaking and then restores the microphone to normal operation. An
unusual error or system glitch during this process could result in the
microphone being turned off permanently - this has not happened but is
theoretically possible. Since current users have all had some hand function,
this has not been a serious concern to date.  

The trial version of the Petrana voice commands for DVD 1.1 demonstrates GFT
Group's new technology - the Petrana Code Mangler - for code obfuscation and
encryption of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Advanced Scripting (Visual Basic for
Applications) commands. The Petrana code mangler enables Dragon
NaturallySpeaking software developers to protect their intellectual property
and reduce the risks and costs of software piracy.  

John F. McGowan, PhD
President, Research and Development Division
GFT Group Inc.
jmcgowan@gftgroup.com
http://www.petrana.net

# # #

Note: This e-mail message was composed using the Petrana artificial personal
assistant from GFT Group Inc (http://www.petrana.net) and the Dragon
NaturallySpeaking speech-recognition engine from ScanSoft Corp.. You may
encounter speech-recognition errors that differ from traditional
typographical errors.  

Contributed by Marsha Allen