dragon dictation

Speak now, or forever hold your chance to win this week's Crave giveaway. The prize: Nuance's Dragon Dictate 2.5 for Mac. The speech recognition software boasts some enhancements over earlier versions, including full support for Microsoft Word 2011 and new Facebook- and Twitter-sharing capabilities.

Dragon Dictate 2.5 also takes advantage of the recently introduced Dragon Remote Mic App, a free application that lets you use an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad as a wireless microphone for Dragon via Wi-Fi.

Normally, Dragon Dictate 2.5 would cost you $179.99, but you have the chance to get it for nada, nothing, zip, zilch. So how do you go about snagging this week's freebie? There are a few rules, so please take a moment to stop talking and read them carefully. … Read more

Are you feeling ignored because your iPhone 4S-toting friends are spending more time conversing with Siri than with you? If you have an older iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, you can run the newly released iOS 5, but it doesn't come with Apple's vaguely British virtual assistant. What's a lonely, old iPhone owner to do?

One idea is to give Dragon Dictation a try. From Nuance, the makers of Dragon Naturally Speaking software (and who may have had a hand in developing Siri), Dictation is a free iPhone voice app that lets you engage in one-way conversations with your iPhone. It won't answer your queries like Siri does, but it does an impressive job of translating your spoken words into text. So, while you can't ask Dragon Dictation where you can find the best burrito in your vicinity (I'm pretty sure Siri would tell me to leave the state of New Hampshire for such an item), you can dictate text messages and e-mails as well as Facebook and Twitter updates. … Read more

OK, this week we're serving up a 2-for-1 software special here on Crave. Thanks to a donation from Nuance, we've got both a Windows version of the company's speech-recognition software--Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Version 11/Home edition)--as well as Dragon Dictate for Mac.

Both the Mac and Windows versions are powered by Nuance's "state-of-the-art" Dragon v11 speech-recognition engine, which Nuance says is much more accurate out of the box and responds faster to spoken commands (you can edit documents, compose e-mails, navigate applications, search the Web, and more). And because you don't have to … Read more

We all agree there's a lot to like about Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's newest mobile operating system. However, there are some tools Microsoft could have inserted into its still-nascent mobile platform. A universal voice-to-text service is one of them--as we've noted before, Microsoft has a robust technology with TellMe.

Microsoft-powered voice commands are still a future feature we may see, even as soon as CES. In the meantime, manufacturers and carriers will need to fill in the gaps. LG did this for the LG Optimus Windows Phones in its LG Voice-to-Text application. Voice commands will let you … Read more

In the battle between iPhone and Android, one of several things Android users can hang over the heads of their iPhone-toting brethren is the built-in talk-to-text capability. Luckily, owners of the Apple device can easily retort, "Well, there's an app for that!" In fact, there are several dictation programs available. Better yet, the two I've outlined below are free (for the most part).

Dragon Dictation: This completely free app--which is compatible with any iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running OS 3.1 or later--is simpler in function than the other offering here. However, a new version … Read more

Nuance, which makes Dragon voice-to-text software, is forging ahead in the iPhone app market.

Over the weekend, the company updated its Dragon voice dictation app for the Apple iPhone and unveiled a new Dragon Search app to let you find info via voice.

The 1.2 version of the free Dragon Dictation app--which was initially released last month--now supports the iPod Touch 2G and 3G. Touch users can plug in an external microphone and dictate up to 20 seconds of speech that is converted to text.

Besides adding support for the iPod Touch, Nuance resolved an issue that had created … Read more

There've been some dictation apps before, but now Nuance, maker of the world's most popular desktop dictation software, is invading the App Store with its own.

Dragon Dictation (link opens iTunes), which is based on the desktop Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, lets you do pretty much everything you'd use the iPhone's keyboard for, but with your voice.

That includes using the iPhone's clipboard for cutting and pasting, as well as saying your latest Twitter or Facebook update aloud (warning: Saying "Just ate a sandwich LOL roast beef LOL" aloud may frighten those around you). … Read more