Windows 10 Speech Recognition

If you put past articles that have written, you’ll see that I have many different postings talking about speech recognition and used on either a computer or mobile device.  When I write about the speech recognition program I like to use the program itself to write the article which helps to test how well the program works.

In this case are done the same thing and I am writing the article using Microsoft Windows 10’s Speech Recognition application.  I will only run through the initial training session to give the system of brief analysis of my voice characteristics.  While with some programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking, this is sometimes sufficient to give an accurate response, I think Microsoft’s product will need multiple sessions to get to the same level of recognition capabilities that some of these better programs offer.

The basic control commands all seemed to work well and it may be that some of my issues are that I’m also using a new blue tooth headset that might not be transmitting as clear as I would hope.  I probably should listen to my voice in conjunction with what the system was typing out.  However, I do not see that as an option.

All in all, I find that the program is working sufficiently to use it but it does seem to get lost every so often and I have to bring the system back to the program started up again.  This is a frustrating issue but quick on the screen bring everything back to life.  My suggestion is to run multiple training sessions to increase the accuracy of the system so that you have a lower threshold of frustration when you begin using it.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 12

I went and purchased a recent copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 12 for myself to use at home and I decided also to bring it into work to see if it would help me out there as well. I have been using the built in voice to text recognition functions that are in Windows 7 but it seems to be getting worse and worse as I use it more which seems very contradictory since this was to be getting better as you use it got worse. I am very impressed with how well it works both in its accuracy and in its speed.

I will have to report back into you have couple weeks to update you on what I have found. I think that I will find it to be quite useful and will become part of my daily tools that I use to complete projects that I do throughout the day.

Dragon Naturally Speaking Home Edition 2012

The home addition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking is not only an expensive but is so much more responsive and more accurate than using the built in Windows 7 voice recognition software. It makes voice dictation so much simpler and allows me to quickly and easily dictate my blog posts. I think I will be using this a lot more often both at home and in the office. It will help me and quickly getting email messages sent to allow me to create more descriptive information then I would if I were just typing them out.

The commands are very simple and straightforward and seem to be intuitive to what you are trying to accomplish. The learning curve is very short and training it for your voice which allows you to get up and running very quickly. I have noticed that the command sidebar positions itself on the screen and is best viewed on a widescreen monitor. This is something I don’t have at the office and may have to prompt me into finally replacing the screens as I have been thinking about.

I find the response is much faster than the Windows speech recognition program and I am not constantly slowing down waiting for the program to recognize what I am saying. One downfall that I have seen so far though is that Live Writer doesn’t seem to work with this program directly. So I need to create my document inside Word first and then drop it into live writer program. I am not sure that this is all that bad because I find that Microsoft Word seems to have a better grammar checker then does Live Writer. And Lord knows that I need all the help that I can get!

As a whole I am very happy with the purchase, and I think I will get very good use out of this product. If anyone else is using this program and would like to make comments on their experience with it I would love to hear from you.

Will Voice to Text and Voice Recognition be taking over all of your phone functions?

My use of voice to text recognition software goes in spurts.  I don't use it routinely just because I am very seldom in a quiet enough area to make a good environment for the voice to text recognition software work well.

On my Windows 7 machine I use the built in Windows 7 software for speech recognition.  It does pretty well, but I can't help but think that Dragon Naturally Speaking would do a much better job at this.  I sometimes use the Dragon app on my iPhone to create like texts that I send out.  But other than that, I don't use any of the boys search programs that are out there for my phone.

I have written a lot of blog posts using the voice to text technology on my iPad, and more recently on my new Nexus 7.  On the iPad am using the Dragon app to create a note that I eventually will paste into another application to post up to my blog.  The Nexus 7 has a very similar voice to text recognition application that you can use inside multiple applications on the device.  This makes it a little more usable then the dragon app.

New wants is the software manufacturer of the Dragon series of software packages, and they are in constant development of their software to place it on as many devices that they can.  We're starting to see it on some smart TV use and even in cars.  They are hoping to have their software power in every application that you use.

They're placing a new software development kit so all iOS and Android app developers can use the same voice recognition technology in any app. This might be exciting for some of us that there is a scarier side to this coming to fruition.  They are also hoping to combine actual voice ID’ing to financial applications to access banking and payment functions.  Think about one click purchasing at Amazon being processed totally by voice control.

What is frightening is the possible loss of control as someone overhearing, recording your voice, or some other IP capture system to be able to take advantage of this voice function on devices and within applications that could hurt you financially.  The question is do you want to open this Pandora's Box or not?  Think about it.

Voice to Text has finally arrived on the iPhone

If you've been following me at all lately. You will notice that I am constantly looking for an application that will give me good dictation capability with voice to text recognition on my iPhone.

On the PC, I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking and these same people have developed their own iPhone application to dictate on your iPhone-and it works very, very well. In fact, I am using this program to write this article that you are reading right now! It recognizes all your commands for punctuation, so don't forget to put that in.

The interface makes it very easy to make changes during and after dictation segments. Just tap on any word on the screen that it has converted from voice to text and you will be given options to delete or replace the word with other words that might be similar to what you said.

One of the tricks is to keep your sentences short because it will only have a certain amount of memory to use for the conversion. At the end of your dictation you have the ability to send your text to the clipboard for use in another application. There are also two buttons available that will send you directly to the mail application or text messaging application.

The most useful part of this application is that it allows me to store this text in the clipboard so that I can share my dictated notes with whatever application that I want to insert in to.

The best part of this application for all of us, is that it's free. This App gets my big thumbs-up to add to your library of applications on your iPhone.

Voice to Text Recognition on an iPhone

I have been searching for an application that will allow me to use my iPhone as a dictation device and will automatically convert my voice recordings to usable text. While reQall doesn't quite fill all my needs, I am finding that it is still a pretty interesting utility that can add a lot of extra support to a hectic lifestyle.

reQall allows you to set up categories and set times for your tasks. You can have folders for categories like Shopping, To-do and Notes. It has both a Web and Phone interface so you can make changes and update your lists to help make them work even better for you. But what I like the most is the ability to add your notes, dictation style, on the fly using your iPhone and the reQall application.

There is a free version that gives you a taste of what the program can do. And then…. the Pro version adds quite a few subtle capabilities that will make this program almost indispensible to you if you are one of those people that is continuously on the go. We need all the tools to make ourselves more efficient and to operate at our peak efficiencies. You might find this is just the program to give you that extra edge. These days, it is only small things that differentiate ourselves from our competition. Here is one way to give you the ability to shine in your customer’s eyes.

The Standard Version is free but for $2.99/month, $24.99/year you may want to consider the Pro version. Here is a brief list of features found in the Pro Version:

• Add items to Google Calendar and Outlook by voice.
• See what you need to remember right here and now via the Memory Jogger.
• Group items by creating Places that have an associated geo-location (with a GPS-enabled device. If you have the new iPhone 3GS this will do that for you).
• Group items by Place even without a GPS device. For example, "Errands" or "Online Tasks" can be Places.
• Create To-Dos, Notes and Shopping List items via email.
• Have your items for Work and Home organized automatically.
• Receive reminders via text message.

I have only been using this application for a short time but already I know that when the initial trial is up I am going to spring for the Pro Version.