And Lotus has been helping Fremont, California-based Media Vision Inc in the design of AudioPort, a new device that the companies say enables sound to be very easily added to personal computers. The card-deck-sized product attaches to the outside of the computer, for possible application in speech-annotated business documents; elaborate on-line help capabilites built into software programs; speech-enhanced electronic mail messages; and of course multimedia presentations. The device plugs into the parellel port of the computer enabling speech recording and playback. Media Vision and Lotus say the product is the result of research into the use of sound in the corporate environment. AudioPort can run on batteries or from the mains and is fully portable. And Lotus has contributed speech annotation software to empower Windows Object Linking and Embedding-enabled applications with full sound. Audioport costs $200 and ships this month.
