Gear Diary » Voice Recognition

There’s an App for That, the Adele Version

Dan Cohen — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:00:04 +0000

As Mike recently pointed out, Adele is a phenomena who popularity exploded this year because… she has a great voice and the songs are great! She's had a rough time lately however thanks to throat surgery and a silent recovery. After a polyp was removed Adele was told not to speak for a month. According to an upcoming interview on 60 Minutes, Adele, who loves to talk, found the silence more difficult than the actual surgery. Fortunately for her she lives in the era of smartphone apps. As she explained,

I had an application on my phone that you type the words into it and then it speaks it.

But there's more. You see, most text-to-speach apps offer G-rated language and Adele is a self-professed potty-mouth. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Gear Chat 2012- We’re Back!!

Dan Cohen — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:50:56 +0000

It has been over a year but Gear Chat is back and we're talking tech. In this first episode Thomas and I talk about the Samsung Galaxy Note, the Series 7 Slate tablet and what configuration of Apple computing products is best. Future episodes will include Gaming and eBook segments and much more. We also want to hear from you! What content do you want covered? What questions do you have? Would you like us to do the podcast as a live, call-in conversation? We want to know. Happy listening and, as always, thanks for sharing via Twitter and Facebook.

Your browser does not support the audio element

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Quick Tip: Transcribe Audio and Video for FREE

Dan Cohen — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:00:35 +0000

Have you ever had a YouTube video or audio segment you wanted to transcribe but didn't have the patience to sit and manually type out what the speaker/s said? I ran into just such a situation yesterday and, instead of it taking hours for me to listen, pause, type, listen, pause, type etc I was able to transcribe the two YouTube videos I needed in under ten minutes. Here's how… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Dragon Dictate for Mac Giveaway!! We Have a Winner!!!

Dan Cohen — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:00:10 +0000

We had a copy of Dragon Dictate for Mac to give away. CES 2012 is over and it is belatedly time to pick a winner... Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Nuance Dragon Go! Free on the Android Market!

Michael Anderson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:30:41 +0000

Regardless of what executives from Google and Microsoft say, people really DO like using intelligent voice technology with their smartphones - and the massive success of Siri on the iPhone 4S proves it. Android has an adequate built-in voice recognition engine, but now Nuance brings their amazing technology to Android with the release of Dragon Go! free on the Android Market! Here is the info from Nuance:

Nuance today announced that its revolutionary Dragon Go! app is now available for Android on the Android Market. Dragon Go! gives consumers direct access to over 200 of the most trusted and reliable destinations for mobile content simply by using their voice

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Dragon Dictate for Mac Giveaway!!

Dan Cohen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:15:11 +0000

The other day David, our Gear Diary automotive guru, emailed with some bad news. Yes, it seems he welcomed the New Year with a serious shoulder injury. Here's what he wrote (I feel his pain as he typed each letter…)

I hope this is not an omen as to how 2012 is going to shape up for me but I am having to go on injured reserve due to a shoulder injury I sustained on New Year's Day... It is my right shoulder and prolonged time typing and using the mouse really aggravates it... This may be the perfect time to test out Dragon Dictation, huh? David

I'm sorry to hear about the injury and hope Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

The ivee Flex Personal Assistant Video Review

Dan Cohen — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:00:03 +0000

This isn't the first time we've looked at an alarm clock that not only speaks the time but understands when YOU speak. No, two years ago we reviewed the Moshi Travel Alarm Clock, and before that we took a look at the bedside version of it. Despite some limitations both worked fairly well. Yes, voice commands were limited, but once you learned HOW to speak to the clocks they did respond properly most of the time. Fast forward two years, and a new batch of voice-controlled alarm clocks are hitting the market. They come from a company called ivee and are now referred to as "personal assistants". ivee claims they Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Siri Is Awesome but It’s Not the AT&T iPhone 4S’ Best Feature

Dan Cohen — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:00:49 +0000

I love Siri on the iPhone 4S. As I have written previously, it has changed the way I use my iPhone and, in fact, the way I do much of my writing. Thanks to Siri I'm better at consistently setting up reminders for myself. Thanks to Siri I'm able to make new appointments on the fly. And thanks to Siri I am rarely typing on my iPhone any longer. Yes, Siri's voice recognition is so good that, so long as I speak clearly and slowly and follow the guidelines I have previously shared here on the site, I am now able to do the vast majority of my first draft writing with my iPhone and Siri. Siri is huge and its power and importance will only grow over time. After all, the service is still technically in Beta! Yet as I drove around the state going from lifecycle event to lifecycle event today I suddenly realized that as important as Siri is, it isn't the biggest improvement I've found. What is? Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

New Gear Daily Deal on Andrea SuperBeam Headphones

Dan Cohen — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:15:54 +0000

We reviewed the Andrea SuperBeam phones last week and were impressed. (You can read the review here.) The headphones have an MSRP of $149.95, but we found them discounted to just $117.96. That's a great price on headphones that make VOiP and voice recognition a pleasure. Buy it here. [affiliate link] Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Andrea SuperBeam Phones SB-405 Stereo Headset Review

Dan Cohen — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:00:30 +0000

If you are into voice recognition, then you need to have a good microphone. It's a basic fact of life. Yes, you can use the built-in microphone on the MacBook Air (for example), and you'll probably get good results. But if you want great results you'll need something that's going to help filter out the background noise; that means a good headset. Among the issues with such headsets? The best of them have boom microphones that make you look like a Bell telephone operator. Sure, this is all about getting the work done and dictating your text but what if there were a way to not look quite as dorky? That's what Andrea's new headphones make Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Apple, You May Have a Problem. We Have the Solution.

Dan Cohen — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:30:51 +0000

Apple may have a bit of a problem on its hands if a new report from Goldman Sachs (Via www.bgr.com)is accurate. According to a new report, sales of the iPad 2 are slowing even as we come into the holiday shopping season. There are, of course, many possible reasons for this. Among them might be the fact that people are waiting until the holiday season is closer (read Black Friday) to make a purchase and yesterday's release of the Amazon Kindle fire which is just $199 as opposed to the $499 buy in to get the least expensive iPad. Still, regardless of the reason(s), if this slowdown is actually happening it is a problem for Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Holiday Gift Guide: For Those Who Need Better Voice Recognition

Dan Cohen — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:00:24 +0000

From the Editorial Staff of Gear Diary: Is there someone in your life who would benefit from speaking their text rather than typing it? If so, here are five gifts with which you can't go wrong. The key to accurate voice recognition is wearing the right headphones. Andrea Electronics SuperBeam Phones are just the thing. We'll be reviewing the headphones over the next few days but they are already impressive. As the company explains

SuperBeam headsets deliver Hi-Definition sound for all your social media and multimedia applications. The unique integrated array microphone system is designed for use with Andrea’s patented beam forming and digital noise reduction audio software, providing “Boom freed” convenience. SuperBeam also provides 3D

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Nuance Releases Dragon Express; Just Don’t Call It Dragon for Mac Light

Dan Cohen — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:00:13 +0000

Yesterday Nuance released Dragon Express in the Mac App Store. At an introductory price of $49, the application is a less expensive way to get Nuance's voice-to-text transcription on your Mac than the $200 Dragon for Mac. (It only runs on OS X Lion and if you haven't upgraded to it you should.) It would be easy to think of Dragon Express as Dragon for Mac Light and, on one level that is what it is but, after using it yesterday, it strikes me as more of a port of Nuance's Dragon Dictation iOS app. Just as the iOS app lets you dictate and then send the text to another application, Dragon Express lets you dictate into its own window and, when done, send it elsewhere. That certainly makes it less convenient than the full, $200 Dragon for Mac, but there is a reason one might choose Dragon Express and I'm not talking about the lower price. You see, while Dragon for Mac tends to be a bit of a resource hound and can slow down my computer at times, Dragon Express seems incredibly "light" and is something that can be left running in the background all the time. As such, it will be ready and waiting for you whenever you need it. Let's walk through the setup process. The download is over a gigabyte so you are going to want a fast connection and some free time. When it finally has loaded, the first screen asks if you want to use the internal microphone or a USB headset. This is a departure from the past when the Mac's Internal microphone could only be used with voice recognition software by employing a work-around. Of course, you aren't going to get the same degree of clarity over the internal mic that you would were you using a noise canceling headset but the convenience of not needing a headset is too much to pass this option by. AND, I am having no issue getting accurate transcriptions via the internal mic. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Andrea’s SuperBeam Phones On-Ear Headphones Go “Boom-less”

Dan Cohen — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:15:49 +0000

I've used a number of Andrea headphones for voice recognition in the past, and I've always been impressed. The company's SuperBeam Phones are a departure from previous models, and I'm really loving the design choices that went into creating them. They are sleek on-ear headphones that drop the microphone boom, but still offer great voice quality. Here's what the company has to say about them:

SuperBeam headsets deliver Hi-Definition sound. Our unique integrated array microphone system is designed for use with Andrea’s patented beam forming and digital noise reduction audio software, providing “The Freedom of Voice”. SuperBeam also provides a new audio

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Siri and Evernote Sitting in a Tree…

Dan Cohen — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:15:44 +0000

Siri and Evernote work together beautifully, and all it takes is a little bit of preparation. In fact, if you use Evernote regularly, then you probably already have taken the steps you need to take to make it work. You see, each Evernote account comes with an email address that can be used to send notes by email. That's the key. Here's what you need to do.

First, make Evernote a contact in your address book with your incoming Evernote email address. You can add the email by going into Evernote > Settings > Evernote email address. Launch Siri and say “Send email to Evernote.” Next, dictate your email and send it off. The message will show

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

“Siri, Find Me T-Shirts Featuring You…”

Dan Cohen — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:15:32 +0000

The other day Mike went on a bit of a tear about Siri, its outage last week and loneliness. This from the guy who sent me information that a t-shirt featuring Siri was on sale at Tanga.com a few weeks ago. (Yes, Mike is a Siri-enabler!!) Seriously? Who is Siri-smitten enough to actually spend money (albeit discounted) on Siri garb? Well, me of course. :-) The shirt came today and it is awesome. Yes, Siri is already a cultural phenomena… and it is just the beginning Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

More Tips to Make Siri Work for You

Dan Cohen — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:15:55 +0000

The other day I was speaking to someone who had just gotten a new iPhone 4S. They love the phone but were complaining that Siri doesn't seem to work very well. We spent a few minutes going over some of the Siri ins and outs and, would you believe, he now loves Siri. Because of that, I thought I would circle back and share a few more tips that can make Siri a more effective productivity tool. Talk to Me: As is the case with all voice recognition, you need to speak in a particular manner if you want Siri to transcribe text accurately. In fact, if others hear me talking to Siri they give Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

MiCorner: Is Siri Alone Reason Enough to Upgrade to the iPhone 4S?

Dan Cohen — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:15:39 +0000

One of the iPhone-related questions I have been asked my frequently in the last two weeks is this - "I have the iPhone 4. Is Siri reason enough for me to upgrade to the iPhone 4S?" Let me offer a few thoughts and then, hopefully, any of you who have the iPhone 4S will chime in with your opinions. If you have the iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS, it is a no-brainer. Your contract is up, so now a discounted phone is likely available; the 3G and 3GS -- while still excellent phones -- are completely outclassed by the iPhone 4S. I know, however, that is a copout, since the question is not whether the iPhone Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Siri at Work: Update Yammer on the Fly

Dan Cohen — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:15:59 +0000

The term "game changer" is thrown around far too often. (I am as guilty as the next blogger.) But the fact of the matter is, for those of us who are using Siri seriously, it really is a game changer. In this post I want to take a quick look at one of the many ways that Siri is transforming what I do and making it easier and more efficient than ever. A bit of background first. In my congregation I have the privilege of working with three other members of our clergy team. In addition, I have a full-time assistant who, quite frankly, is my brain. For the longest time she would be the Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Nuance Releases Free Dragon Recorder App for iOS

Dan Cohen — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:06:51 +0000

Nuance is back today with yet another iOS application. Before we get into the details of the app it is worth running down the company's various desktop software as this is simply a companion application to them. If you use Windows and want voice recognition Nuance offers a number of different versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. They each offer different feature levels. It does active transcription as you speak to it but it also, at least in the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium, Professional or Legal versions, includes a transcription functionality that makes it possible for you to record to a portable voice recorder, transfer the voice file over to your computer and have it transcribed at a Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Enough Fun and Games; Tips and Tricks for Using Siri for Productivity

Dan Cohen — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:00:19 +0000

Siri is a lot of fun to play with, but it is time to get down to business. After all, with a little bit of patience and a few (many?) tweaks, Siri can become an amazingly useful productivity service. Truth be told, for the first few hours I was trying Siri I thought it was a big fat fail. After making some of the changes I want to share with all of you however, I already can't see having to go without it. So let's jump right on in. Home Button? You don't need no stinkin' Home Button Yes Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

It’s All About Voice: Nuance Unveils New NDEV Mobile Developer Program w/Free Access to Dragon Mobile Voice Technology

Dan Cohen — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:00:13 +0000

Earlier today I was IMing with Judie. Both of us have ditched our iPhone 4s in anticipation of the next generation iPhone. We are both looking forward to it and want it NOW. At one point I IMed “You know, as much as I am excited about the possibility of an update to the hardware for me it is all about the voice. Voice recognition baked deeply into the OS will be THE feature!” Now I have no idea if the rumored Nuance integration voice technology integration will see the light with this release and my contacts at Nuance aren’t saying but, as I have noted repeatedly, it does make a lot of sense and Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

iOS 5.0 Voice-to-Text Cometh??

Dan Cohen — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:59:02 +0000

As a general rule we don't cover rumors here on the site. Every now and then however there is a bit of juicy information that is so deeply rooted in fact that taking the leap toward believing the rumor is pretty easy. This is one of those cases and, truth be told, I have a hard time seeing this NOT come to pass. We've all been hearing about ongoing negotiations between Apple and Nuance with regard to incorporating Nuance's voice-to-text technology deeply in the next version of iOS. We've even see screen shots of the keyboard trigger for it. Now word comes that the functionality has been activated and implemented in some of the Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Nuance Releases Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.5

Dan Cohen — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:44:42 +0000

Last week Apple released their updated MacBook Airs. I picked up an 11" MBA with 4GB RAM and a 128GB ssd. I love the thing. There were a few reasons for the purchase. First, the new generation of MBAs are super fast. That along makes them a great choice. Second, this release brought back the backlit keyboard that had disappeared in the prior generation. I didn't realize just how much I missed the backlighting until I had it again. Third, the diminutive size of the 11" MBA makes it simple to being pretty much everywhere. As much as I love my iPad there are some things you just need access to Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Office Gear Review: Sennheiser OfficeRunner Headset

Dan Cohen — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:00:45 +0000

I spend a lot of time on the phone and have long thought about getting a good headset to use. I was close to buying the OfficeRunner some time back but did not. Why? In part because I read a fairly scathing review of it.The "review" that turned me off to a great extent and prompted me to not purchase the headset talked about the fact that this headset doesn't work with cordless phones and that the volume that was so low that the person on the other end couldn't hear the conversation. Both criticisms were, as I discovered, unfair. (I won't link to it here because it was such a poorly researched and unfair critique.) Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

New Gear Daily Deal: Dragon Dictate for Mac OS X

Dan Cohen — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:00:00 +0000

Dragon Dictate 2.0 with USB Headset

As I have shared numerous times here on the site I do a good bit of my writing by voice. Since I am a devout Mac OS X user might software tool of choice is Dragon Dictate for Mac. Since Nuance took over the company and began using its speech recognition engine with the software the accuracy is quite excellent. So long as you speak slowly and clearly, use a good microphone and dictate into certain text applications such as textedit the accuracy is close to perfect. (In fact I'm writing this post by voice using it right now.) The software isn't inexpensive so any time you Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Brings Social Media Integration, iOS Remote Mic and More

Dan Cohen — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:00:37 +0000

DragonNaturally Speaking is simply the best voice recognition software available. Period. It lets you use you voice to not only write on your Windows PC but navigate the computer and much more. Well this morning Nuance is announcing Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5, the latest version of their voice recognition software. As the company explains, version 11.5

adds new features that make it easier to create documents, send emails, surf the Web, share social status and interact with many PC applications.

I watched a demo of NaturallySpeaking 11.5 in action a few weeks ago and there are a couple of great new features that stand out. When I asked why they were releasing a point upgrade with such Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

An Open Letter to Apple After Microsoft’s Purchase of Skype

Dan Cohen — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:00:15 +0000

Dear Apple, There is big news in the tech sector these days and, one way or another, you are part of all of it. Not a surprise considering the amazing growth you have maintained and the way in which you are shaping the next era of computing. It looks pretty likely that the Nuance deal that has you in a strategic partnership with the voice recognition company is a done deal. Good move! As we wrote last June, Google was eating your bacon in the voice recognition arena and you needed to do something… And fast. Okay, so it took you a year and a full point jump in your version of iOS but Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Apple & Nuance: A Tale Told on Gear Diary … in June 2010!

Michael Anderson — Sat, 07 May 2011 18:22:25 +0000

If you check the various tech blogs and news feeds today you are likely to find stuff about talks between Apple and Nuance to bring speech recognition to iOS for the iPhone 5. These are all based on a report from TechCrunch and "sources". In other words, this article is the stuff of rumors... for now. The article recounts Steve Wozniak saying Apple had bought Nuance last November, which was seen as a great idea ... but ultimately false and supposedly based on Siri, a company Apple actually DID buy. And yet it goes back even further - because early last June Dan wrote an article called "Dear Apple and Nuance Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

GD Quickie: So Long Jott, It Was Great Knowing You

Dan Cohen — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:32:08 +0000

One of the most significant iPhone applications I discovered when the App Store first opened was Jott. It was a revolution. I could simply record something on my iPhone and it would send the recording to the Jott servers and return the text in a few minutes. Better still, jott integrated with a growing number of services such as Google Calendar and Toodledo. I loved it and used it all the time. "Who do you want to Jott?" became a familiar phrase that I heard constantly. The service was initially free but eventually went to a paid model. Some people were unhappy, after all they had been Continue reading on Gear Diary ...