Google Chrome 11 adds speech-to-text feature

Google's increasingly popular Web browser, Chrome, now includes built-in speech-to-text translation with Chrome version 11, now available for download.

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For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

The tech giant has been busy fixing some bugs in Chrome, but also adding new features, with the speech-to-text ability the most exciting. As Google says on its Chrome blog, using the Web browser you can now:

"You can talk to your bank's computer, so why not your own?" writes PC Magazine. "This is possible with the built-in speech recognition available on Windows and Mac machines, but Google's vision of making every app a Web app is now one step closer to reality with speech input HTML."

You won't see the microphone unless you've updated Chrome to 11. "No other current browser displays the microphone icon. In quick tests, the speech input worked perfectly, though it only accepts English."

Google also said it paid "a record $16,500 of rewards" to those who came up with fixes for various bugs in the Web browser.

Chrome, which competes with other Web browsers like Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari, "surpassed" a 10 percent share of "global browser usage" for the first time in January, according to Net Applications.

 Related stories:

• Google adds downloading safety to Chrome browser
• Microsoft gives early preview of next browser, IE10
• Apple: iPhone browser isn't slower, testing was just flawed

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