Speech recognition, the new PC power tool

September 18, 2013

The Siri effect is spreading. Starting this fall, Nuance, a company that makes advanced speech recognition and transcription software, will bundle its Dragon Assistant, a Siri-like, vocal sidekick, with select Intel-powered Ultrabooks and All-in-One desktops. Dragon Assistant could change how people use speech recognition in everyday computing. Even if you’re a good typist, speech recognition can enhance your productivity by letting you handle everything from basic commands to emails without touching the keyboard. My husband was an early and unexpected convert. In 2010, he had surgery on his left shoulder and was unable to use his left hand for a couple of months. His company bought him a copy of Dragon Dictate. He liked it so much that he still uses it today, long after his shoulder healed. He says it makes him faster and more productive (and he already types, on average, 130 words per minute), and it’s also easier for him to work in non-traditional environments, such as in the car or outside by the pool. Everyone worries about the training time—and there is some of that—but it varies from product to product. Choosing the right program will ensure that the benefits are worth the investment. These tips will help you get the most out of Nuance’s speech recognition programs, whether you’re using the traditional desktop program, the mobile app, or the new, Ultrabook-bundled Dragon Assistant. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048713/speech-recognition-the-new-pc-power-tool.html#tk.rss_howto