See Me, Feel Me

You may be comfortable with Web pages that speak and listen, but will you
feel them? 

Silicon Valley TechWeek
July 12, 1999 - page 1
by Amara D. Angelica (amaraa@techweek.com)



Tired of reading and typing your way across the Web? In the near future
you'll be able to hear it, talk to it and even feel it. 

Numerous innovations were on display at the fourth annual Web Design and
Development Conference (Web99) in San Francisco. But those that aim to bring
speech and tactile technology to the Web showed the greatest promise of
making the Web accessible to non-techies. 

Chant's SpeechKit, for example, lets developers build sites that recognize
speech and speak. Pages built with the technology allow visitors to navigate
Web sites by asking questions. They can also fill out forms and query
databases by simply talking. 

The usefulness, however, depends on the quality of the speech technology on
visitors' computers. SpeechKit supports IBM SMAPI engines (ViaVoice and
VoiceType) and Microsoft SAPI engines on Windows platforms. Chant also offers
free downloadable software for adding speech engines.  

Web site developers can add speech and voice recognition functions to Web
pages by adding JavaScript, VBScript or Java applets, using the company's
$399 SpeechKit for the Web, downloadable from http://www.chant.net. 

Chant President John Earle says a number of developers are creating
SpeechKit-enhanced Web sites. Key uses include e-commerce order taking,
education, games, Web call-center operations (such as database-driven
customer support) and use by the visually impaired, he says.  

By adding speech functions, "Developers don't have to put all the details on
a page. They can use speech to communicate additional information," such as
product descriptions and operating instructions. The technology is passive,
he adds, so if a Web site visitor doesn't have speech technology installed,
they can still use a keyboard and mouse to access the information.  

Touchy-feely Web sites

Now that you can see and hear Web pages, what about feel? FEELit software
from San Jose-based Immersion drives magnetic actuators in a mouse, applying
physical forces to your hand. As you move the mouse across Web pages, you can
feel yourself bump into the edges of an object and feel the texture as you
move across it.  

Click on a car engine and you can feel the engine shake as it turns over and
then purrs. The technology was developed by Louis Rosenberg, Immersion's
president, during work for his Ph.D. thesis on haptics (the science of
feeling) at Stanford University, he says.  

The uses for the visually impaired, games and education are obvious. But
Immersion's Ramon Alarcon, director of the Licensed Consumer Hardware
Technology Group, says the technology will also find many other uses, such as
in online chat rooms and e-commerce. 

Windows user-interface controls and browsers can also have added sensations.
Resizing a desktop window feels like stretching a rubber band. As you move
over menu items, you can feel the cursor move in discrete clicks. Alarcon
says research shows that targeting speed (selecting a hyperlink, for example)
is increased over 70 percent.  

Logitech is the first company to license FEELit technology, which will be
included in Logitech's $99 Wingman Force Feedback Mouse, due to ship this
fall. He says about 20 gaming companies have already developed joysticks,
steering wheels and arcade stations using Immersions force-feedback
technology.  

Immersion offers an authoring tool free on its Web site
(http://www.feeltheweb.com). It can be used with an ActiveX control (for
Internet Explorer), plug-in (for Netscape Navigator/Communicator) or
Javascript. Hundreds of sample sensations are available. A developer kit,
which includes the Logitech mouse and software, is available for $99.  

