Dragon Dictate 4
The voice recognition leader now includes separate transcription
Dragon Dictate 4
Nuance’s new dictation software
We’re all getting familiar with voice recognition, with Siri on very new iPhones. Where the technology really comes into its own, though – in a business sense – is in OS X, where Dragon Dictate is the long-time leader in converting what you say into neatly typed documents and accurately executed commands.
Most of the features have been carried over from the previous edition, which already boasted excellent recognition and nippy performance even on middling Mac set-ups. Transcription tools are new this time around, having previously been sold as Scribe, a separate app. Feed it a 90-second sample of your subject’s voice and it should be able to transcribe a recording. Nuance reckons this is will benefit students who’ve recorded a lecture on their phone, and business users who dictate quick notes while on the go.
We found the results to be mixed when in this mode. It performed well when transcribing one of Barak Obama’s online addresses, but it was less effective when working with a well spoken and clearly enunciated British voice, even though we’d told it to expect an English accent.
Reverting to regular dictation proves more predictable, and lived up to our expectations. First-time setup requires you spend five minutes reading samples as they’re displayed on screen so Dictate can compare what it hears to what it knows for sure you’ve been asked to upgrade an existing profile. It’s a fairly time-consuming process that involves first converting your saved data file, and then using it to ‘re-train’ the app, all of which is automatic, but it’s well worth the effort because it means it already recognises the specific, non-standard words you’ve taught it and how you prefer things to be styled.
Neatly, if you’re upgrading from a previous edition of Dictate, you can also upgrade an existing profile
read. This builds a profile so it can decode your future spoken words.
Neatly, if you’re upgrading from a previous edition you can also
You can hook directly into Gmail and issue commands such as ‘Click Compose’ and ‘Click Send’, dictating the body of your email. Doing so requires a plug-in, which to date is only available for Safari and Firefox, but unfortunately not Chrome.
Even without the extensions, you can issue commands like ‘search Google for MacFormat’ or ‘search Bing for Apple’ and it obeys your instructions. Naturally, you can navigate to any link by vocally directing the pointer around the screen. Spoken mouse control is of most use to anyone with a motor impairment, but telling it to switch between apps by voice is also highly beneficial for anyone suffering RSI and who wants to minimise their mouse time. Lukas Aleksandr