Dragon Naturally Speaking

[artimrj]

I bought this last week and have been playing with it. 10 years ago you had to type and talk as it was not very good. I kept seeing the ad for $74 and finaly I decided to try it again. Went to their site and the thing kept crashing me. One final attempt and I noticed a weblink at the bottom of the page which took me to their main site. They had a 1 day special for $50. I'll tell you it is pretty awesome. I can control most of my applications, Word, IE, Notepad, Outlook Express and all the other Office programs I use. Even these phpBB forums and some others. It is like being on Star Trek. Now I do not have to type anymore. Which is great cause I can't really type normally, I hunt and peck but have been doing it for so long (20years now) I can actually type faster than real typists, except I have to look at the keyboard. I use 3 fingers and a thumb from two hands.

But in case any one else was trying to decide, it does everything they show you on TV and a whole lot more. It was well worth $50 and the $74 special comes with a USB wireless head set and Family Tree Maker software.

[ex-railwayman]

Is this Dragon 12, please, Bob, for Individuals, rather than Business customers, I'm not exactly sure what to search for on their website page.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

[artimrj]

Yes just Dragon 12. The other version have stuff for your phone which I dont need. buydragon.com is where the $74 version is with the headset and family tree software.

[ex-railwayman]

Much obliged to you Sir, I'll take a good look round.

Cheerz. ex.

[Chacal]

Couldn't resist.
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1994-04-24/

[OldProf]

I've experimented with voice control -- just the simple version that comes with Windows 7, but every time I clear my throat it butts in to ask me, "What was that?" Although silent, it winds up being more obnoxious than my GPS.

Still, it might be fun if it worked with RailWorks: "Drive to Pasing West 450" ... "Yes, master" ... "Couple to the boxcars, but leave the tankers behind" ... "Why not take the tankers, master?" ... "Run off the rails and crash into that cow!" ... "Is the cow the one with spots, master?" Etc.

[artimrj]

Be nice if you could do Railworks with voice, but Dragon needs a link on screen to do anything with it. It will read menu options though. One of the warnings in the directions is if you have something hilited, do not cough or clear your throat as it will delete the selection, which you can undo, but it will do it all the same.

I do have a game that is voice controlled though, Dangerous Waters. It is a naval simulation and you give commands like the captian of a ship. 20 degrees starboard. Full stop. Flank Speed. Fire toredo 1. Simple commands like that is all it will do.

[Chacal]

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I cannot do that.

[artimrj]

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I cannot do that.

Hmmm are you ChaHAL now ;)

[fraserm]

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I cannot do that.

Hmmm are you ChaHAL now ;)

[Chacal]

ChacHAL 9000.

You know I have only the most enthusiasm and confidence in this mission.

[peterhayes]

Bob
I use DNS for completing my flight simulator reviews in MS Word 2010 I have one of these wireless headphones and mike ie the Plantronics gear and the quality of that gear makes a huge difference in accuracy. With my English/Australian English hybrid twang I get about 98% first pass accuracy - it does miss a few of the aeronatical terms expecially if you have to use abbreviations eg FL3000, but once trained it repeats them quite well.
I've tried it in MS Excel with limited success but it still works.
Apparently Windows 8 has a much better speech recognition engine and eventually when I have to switch to that it might be worth trying.
Flight Simulator X can be controlled by voice using some add - on software and that gives simulated flying a whole new experience.
DNS is well worth having but it does need a lot of input when you first start.
Regards
pH

[artimrj]

Pete, I trained it with 3 of the built in trainors. The business messages one, the Mark Twain one and the Cyber comic guy talking about computors. It has not missed a word yet. I have been totally amazed how well it works. I have an Altec Lansing headset and it works fine. It is 5 years old now as I used it with Teamspeak and FSX online flying with friends.

[peterhayes]

Bob
I wouldn't be without it my touch typing speed (looking at the keyboard) was around a pitiful 20 wpm - but with DNS, I'm several times faster and just about as accurate!! No more RSI in the wrists only my tongue!
PeterH