Article: OPEN FILE; Northwest Airlines pushes limits of voice recognition.(TECH@WORK)

1/3 The airline's experimental reservation system can recognize the names of about 500 cities, regardless of the speaker's accent, a triumph by current voice-recognition standards. But developers say the technology is nearly ready to break out, driven by consumers who want to control the reservation process themselves.

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I am listening in on a phone call to Northwest Airlines, while an acquaintance plans a flight from Minneapolis to Seattle.

"There is a flight at 11:40 in the morning, arriving at 1:19 in the afternoon," said the courteous computerized voice at Northwest. "You may say `previous' or `select,' or, for the next flight, say ...

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