Opera has introduced some voice recognition software aimed at televisions.  Apparently (here, read for yourself), Opera would like you to control your DVD and TV systems with a voice command system.  Of course, the system Opera has in mind is unidirectional -- the TV doesn't talk back as far as I can tell.

I'm not sure this will catch on, but so many people are doing work on speech recognition and systhesis that it's hard to believe that it won't be a part of our lives eventually.  It leads me to wonder about the other devices that could be controlled by voice: what about all those devices in your kitchen or the environmental and entertainment systems in your car?  How about: "Hey!  I'm feeling a little cold in here.  Turn the temp up a notch!"  And, lo!  The car's heater turns up a little bit.

I'd also like to control my iPod using voice control, but that seems a bit beyond Apple.  It's possible to do voice recording on iPods, so why not?  In fact, why can Microsoft pull it off for PocketPCs and not Apple for the iPods?