Web cams, Digital cameras, Microphones

Web cams

Ever since it was invented, the Web has become increasingly interactive. You can now use a small digital movie camera (a Web cam) mounted on the PC monitor to allow two‐way communication involving not just text communication but sound and video communication as well. While not yet considered a standard piece of PC kit, it is only a matter of time.

Digital cameras

A digital camera can be used in the same way a traditional camera can, but instead of storing images on rolls of film which require developing, the images are stored digitally in memory housed within the camera. These pictures can easily be transferred to your computer and then manipulated within any graphics programs which you have installed on your computer. Currently they are limited by the quality of the image recorded and the number of pictures which you may store within the camera.

Microphones

Early voice recognition systems offered very poor results, due to the limitations of the software combined with hardware limitations. It takes an awful lot of CPU processing power to convert the spoken word into text which appears on the screen. Things are changing rapidly however and recent systems allow you to  talk to a PC and see text appear on the screen. Most of these systems require an  initial training period, where you train the software to respond to your particular voice. Whilst still not perfect this is a key technology of the future.