Tag Archives: software

Dragon Dictate

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Practice, practice, practice.

Dragon DictateWhile I realize that my review of Macworld Expo was not very complementary, I did get a first-hand look at one really good software product: Dragon Dictate. Dragon Dictate offers the possibility of being able to do something that all writers dream about: to dictate what I want to write and having the computer type it for me.

My first exposure to Dragon Dictate was with the iPad app, which is called Dragon Dictation. I blogged about it a while ago. The software has a few shortcomings. For example you can only translate short bits of text at a time. It requires an Internet connection. You really can’t use it for long dictation. It’s more of a novelty. But what it showed me is how well the Dragon line of products might be able to understand what I’m saying. I was very impressed.

The folks at Nuance Software had a booth at MacWorld Expo. I sat through one of the demos. The man doing the demo was very good. He recited some rehearsed text, but also ad-libbed, made changes to the text, and did other things that went far beyond rehearsal. It helped confirm what I thought was true: that the software was ready for prime time and might understand what I could dictate to it.

I bought the software.

Using voice-recognition software is more than simply dictating to your computer. While this software is very good at understanding what I have to say, it isn’t perfect. One of the problems with the software is that you cannot combine keyboarding with dictation. If you try to do this you get all kinds of weird errors. So if you’re serious about using it, you need to learn not only how to dictate properly to it, but how to issue the commands that you’ll need to edit the text as you dictate.

The best way to learn how to use the software is to try some dictation with the manual handy to help you edit as you dictate. The manual that comes with the software is 174 pages long. I printed it two pages per sheet of paper and then cut each sheet in half and inserted it in a binder. I can now access this information as I work with the software to help me edit the text as I dictate.

What I’m finding as I dictate this is that the software gets about 99% of what I say exactly right. I’m extremely impressed by this. The training process before I got started was actually pretty quick. I’d say that the software was ready to use within 15 minutes of installing it. This says a lot about the training process, but it also says a lot about the software’s ability to understand what people say. I should also mention here that I’m using the headset that comes with the software as I dictate to my laptop. On my desktop, I use a much better microphone. Either way, the recognition is amazing.

The 1% of dictation that is not understood or that contains errors must be corrected. Correction is tricky. The software recognizes a certain group of commands. If you use the wrong command the software will simply type what you say. This is very frustrating. If you use the correct command, the software may or may not do what you expect. It’s always great when it does what you expect. But it’s very annoying when it does what you don’t expect.

One of the things that bugs me is when I issue a command that I believe will do a certain thing and the software does something completely different. I think this is a matter of me learning the commands. The software definitely understands most of what I have to say, so the problem is probably me issuing the incorrect commands.

So it’s all a matter of practice. I dictate text and as I dictate I watch what the software types. Then I make corrections as necessary. There aren’t many corrections to do. Having the manual nearby helps me find the correct commands to make the corrections I need to do.

Another challenge is to be able to dictate exactly what I want to say. When I first began writing when I was in my teens I didn’t have a word processor. Back then, I had the ability to compose in a linear manner. In other words, my brain dictated to my hand and I was able to write in full sentences and full paragraphs exactly what I wanted to say. Little editing was needed. But word processing has changed the way I write. Nowadays, I get out the basics of what I want to say and then go back and edit. I insert words and paragraphs, I make changes to sentence structure and paragraph structure. I rearrange text. If I can’t think of how to start, I start with the middle and insert the beginning later.

For a long time now, I’ve been thinking about what a blessing and a curse word processing is. As I struggle to work with dictation software, it seems like more of a curse. Word processing has made it difficult for me to write in a linear manner. Because of this, I struggle with dictation.

I do have to say, however, it’s a real thrill to see the words that I dictate automatically typed for me. The accuracy floors me. So far, everything you’ve read in this blog post has been dictated. Not only have I dictated this text, but I’ve also corrected and edited everything that you see. I have not touched the keyboard once. Yes, I have paged through the manual—that’s the main reason for writing this post—I wanted to learn to use the software better. In a way, this blog post is an exercise. I’m hoping that it will help me to learn the software while letting me practice dictating what I want to say. Practice makes perfect.

I will continue using Dragon Dictate to dictate many of my blog posts. And with practice, I’ll be able to master the software and increase my own productivity by being able to dictate what I need to write. Although I’m a quick typist, Dragon Dictate is a lot faster.

Dragon Dictation? Maybe.

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I try an iPad-based dictation tool.

Note: This blog post was dictated into my iPad. Although I’d originally hoped to display the text in two columns to show unedited and edited text (as referred to in the post), I later decided to use DEL and INS tags to show actual text edits required — places where Dragon Dictation actually got it wrong. I did not correct my failure to dictate punctuation or my poor use of words, since those are my errors and not the software’s. A few additional comments are included in square brackets in the text.

I am trying something different today. I’m writing a blog post by dictating into my iPad.

I’m using a program called Capps dDragon caps dDictation. I downloaded it for free on my iPad not long after I bought the iPad. I’ve tried it a few times, and was very pleased with the results. Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to using dictation software and than simply saying what you want to say.

These first two paragraph are good example. On the left you see my dictated version. On the right you see my edited version. Notice the changes I needed to make. It’s really not bad, but not exactly perfect.

The main problem with using dictation software. See is that you have to dictate everything you want to type. That means you have to dictate your punctuation, capitalization, quotes, and any other information that you want to put in your text other than the exact words.

You also need to speak clearly directly into a microphone. On the iPad that’s not exactly convenient since the microphone is at the top of the iPad. Right now my iPad is standing up on my table with the microphone close to my mouth so that so that Dragon dictation can understand what I’m saying. Of course if you have an external microphone it will work with that as well.

You also need to be careful about what you say. Any mistakes you make will be transcribed. This makes dictation a useful tool for getting out of a first draft, but not for getting final text. You’ll still have to go through the document and make changes to it as necessary to correct errors and rephrase sentences.

As I dictate this today, I see that I’m quickly getting the hang of it. Although it’s not natural for me to do this, I don’t think it will be difficult to learn. What amazes me the most, is the way the software can recognize exactly what I’m saying. I haven’t edited any of this text other than what you sought saw at the top of this post. [Not true; read note at top of post.] Get Yet as you can see dragon dictation has managed to understand almost everything that I’ve said. This absolutely amazes me. What I don’t understand, however, is how many people reported that dragon dictation could not understand them. The overall reviews in the iTunes store for the app are very low. I can only assume that these people are not speaking slowly and clearly so that the software can understand them.

What I do find a little bothersome about this software is that it needs an Internet connection to work. As I speak it evidently records what I say and then when I’m done it sends it to the Dragon dictation website words where it’s translated and returned to me. This isn’tthe best solution if you don’t have an Internet connection all the time. But given the price of the software, which was free, I really can’t complain.

Another thing I find a little bit bothersome is the fact that it evidently has a buffer. I can’t just go on talking for a long period of time and expect the software to be able to translate. Instead it automatically cuts me off gets the translation in and puts it in the software sometimes while I’m still talking. [Boy, that previous sentence could sure benefit from some commas.] This means that I need to stop at the end of every long paragraph let it translate and then start again.

It’s interesting to me also how the software does not recognize upon a pause as a place to put a comma or period it’s also interesting to me that it probably just inserted those two forms of punctuation instead of the words that I just set. Let’s see. That’s funny it’s got the words as I said them and didn’t put in punctuation. I guess it does take a little bit of time to get used to this. [This whole paragraph is a good example of experimenting. Believe it or not, Dragon dictation made only one error; the other errors were mine.]

As a writer, it’s a dream to be able to say what you want to say and have it automatically typed for you. But the reality is and not so sweet. In reality, I can type a lot faster than I can do this dictation. I can also make a lot fewer mistakes. And I can edit as I go along.

Still, I think the thing that bothers me the most, is that I have to stop at the end of every long paragraph to let Dragon dictation catch up. I don’t type like this. I don’t think like this. I tend to type thing [I corrected myself here but DD didn’t know that.] right write a lot more a lot more fluidly. I also don’t think about the comments commas that I need to put in my documents.

Overall what do I think of this? I think it has its uses, but I can’t see using it as a normal writing tool. I’ll keep experimenting with it, but I’m not sure whether it will ever be something I use daily.

If you have an iPad or my phone iPhone I recommend giving this a try. You might like it. And if you like it a lot. You might want to buy the regular software that they self sell for your computer. They have a Windows version and a Mac version.

LogTen Pro

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A mini software review for pilots.

LogTen ProAt the end of 2010, nudged by the availability of a coupon code for 30% (I think) off, I purchased the Mac and iPad versions of LogTen Pro. This program, published by Coradine Aviation Systems, is designed primarily for airline pilots to log their flight time, trips, duty time, expenses, and other data. It can then generate any number of reports, including FAA-approved logbook pages and duty sheets. Of course, pilots with Macs don’t only live in the US, so LogTen Pro supports multiple countries and the reports needed to satisfy their own FAA-equivalent organizations.

Although, on the surface, LogTen Pro seems like overkill for logging pilot hours, its true power lies in the fact that you don’t need to log everything it lets you. For example, LogTen Pro enables you to log flight date, aircraft N-number, duty time in, hobbs out, time out, from airport, to airport, time in, hobbs in, and duty time out. That’s the kind of information an airline pilot might need or want to log. But, in reality, how many people really track that much information about their flights? LogTen Pro is perfectly satisfied just taking the flight date, N-number, from airport, to airport, and total time flown. And of course, you can log day vs. night time, VFR vs. IFR time, etc.

In other words, you can log as little or as much information as you like.

iPad version of LogTen ProOf course, the iPad version (shown here with a screen shot of all my 2010 activity) syncs with the Mac version, so I can log time on the go and sync it all up when I get back to my office. Or I can pull old log entries out of my paper logbook and enter them in my Mac and then sync it all to my iPad.

While LogTen Pro is a bit weak on logging helicopter flight time — for example, it supports the Rotorcraft category but did not include a Helicopter class (although, for some reason, it did have gyroplane; go figure) — it is highly customizable. I simply used one of the undefined Class fields to create a Helicopter class in my copy of the software. Although this is calculated properly in the logbook reports as is, I can also create custom log book pages that eliminate columns I don’t need and expand on ones I’m interested in tracking, such as High DA/Mountain (another custom field I created) or Turbine helicopter.

I could go on for thousands of words about this software — there’s a lot to it. But it would be better to let you view the Guided Tour and just try the software for yourself. If you’re a pilot with a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, download the demo version of the software and see what you think. If you’re geeky and love stats like I do, I think you’ll be sold.