This
article was not typed, but dictated. Since the Commodore Amiga, microchips have been trying to
understand the vast array of human noises, and make
sense of them. Voice recognition — once confined to futurists’ dreams along with the flying car (where is
that?) and jetpacks (here but unsafe) — has arrived.
Voice recognition software has come to the
forefront with Siri on the iPhone 4S. The advertisements are certainly convincing. But if you are not on the
iPhone, you can still take advantage of the advances in the field of voice recognition with Nuance and its
products such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Typing is no longer
necessary.
At work, this software allows you to dictate reports and emails as well as search the
web. If you are a student, you can use Dragon to dictate an essay, complete your homework or update your
Facebook status. And Dragon knows how to spell correctly.
According to Nuance, dictating can be up to three
times as fast as typing. All of a sudden, having to write a report at the last minute seems
easier.
As one would imagine, there are caveats. The more
time you can spend practising with Dragon, the better it will work for you. And of course, you need to speak
clearly, enunciating as though you were Peter Mansbridge on The National
as opposed to
using slang words and expressions when chatting with friends. Nevertheless, this is an awesome product and a
sign of things to come.
» nuance.com •
Photo Courtesy: Nuance
