![]() ![]() It even popped up the YouTube trailer for a movie called “When Brendan Met Trudy,” which was directed by KieranWalsh, so it wasn’t just a random hit.īoth of these Dragons, Dictation and Search, can help users out in many ways. It delivered links to my LinkedIn profile and Twitter account, plus five pages of Google hits that included a number of other Trudy Walshes. I spoke my name into Dragon Search, and up popped links for someone named “Judy Walsh.” I can’t really fault Dragon Search for this because people call me Judy by mistake so frequently that I find myself answering to it. In less than a second, Dragon Search called up the very article on WSJ.com, in addition to links to USA Today and Aviation Week on the same topic. I grabbed that day’s Wall Street Journal and read the first sentence of the top story, an article about airlines canceling flights to comply with rules that aim to help passengers avoid lengthy delays. It’s all about the search these days, isn’t it? You click on the green button, speak into the microphone, and it automatically searches the Web for what you said. Think of it: no more Palooka-ville for you. No need to fumble for a pen and pad, just mumble into your iPod Touch or iPhone and your genius is transcribed and saved. Then you can copy it from the clipboard and e-mail it.ĭragon Dictation would be great for giving your carpel ligaments a rest and making notes for those impromptu, unbidden bursts of creativity that come out of the blue. Dragon got almost everything else right.ĭragon Dictation lets you edit text using the on-screen keyboard and some clipboard software, so you can add the punctuation Dragon Dictation leaves out. The first time I read, “He gets the title shot outdoors in the ballpark, and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville.” Dragon registered the line as “a one-way ticket to the look of them.” The second time it came out as “a one-way ticket for Luca Bill.” The next three times it came out as “a one-way ticket to political bill.” I even enlisted fellow GCN Lab colleague Greg Crowe, who’s also a trained actor, to speak the line, and Dragon still interpreted it as “political bill.” But this was an aberration, for the most part. Next I read Marlon Brando’s “I coulda been a contenda” scene from the movie “On the Waterfront.” I read this speech five times. Dragon Dictation is designed so the speech recognition improves the more you use it. Pretty good, especially for the first time out of the box. I feigned an awkward Brooklynese: “Hey there, how you doin’?”ĭragon Dictation dutifully transcribed that as: “Hey dad, how you doing?” I tried to throw Dragon Dictation off by trying out different accents to see how it would handle them. ![]() You tap a red button when you’re ready to talk, and Dragon shoots back text of what you said in a second or two. ![]() Nuance sent us an iPod Touch already loaded with two apps that use voice input, Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search.įor Dragon Dictation, it was a simple matter of logging in to the lab’s Wi-Fi network, tapping on a little green icon and talking into the built-in microphone. Perhaps the easiest way to input human data is by human voice and, of course, there’s an app for that. None of them cost more than $200, and two of them were free. Most of them required a USB port, if that. We tested all of these devices using a Dell OptiPlex desktop PC that runs Windows XP, so nothing fancy was required. We’ve even seen a product that lets you control your mouse with your breath - although it’s not reviewed here. I talk, you listen - thus, we have data input. The human voice could be considered the most basic input device. It still helps to be able to type to input data, but the day is coming when you might not have to. We were willing to look at anything that might add a spark of joy to a day spent typing documents in a government cubicle. Some are ergonomic, some offer a new innovation or twist on an existing technology, and some are just plain fun. The products reviewed here - two voice-based apps, a tablet PC, a roll-up keyboard, a presentation device that transforms paper into a digital drawing board, and a touchpad mouse that can practically sing and dance - all offer a little something extra beyond the usual mouse-and-keyboard combo. But there are alternative input devices, and we’ve just tested six of them. The tasks you work on during the day can change, and the software programs you use can differ, but the physical way in which you interact with your PC is often the same - so much the same that you don’t even notice it. Reviewer's Choice: Canson PaperShow puts presentations in your pocketīrowser Cat Touch Pad is quieter than a mouse
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