Like the popular Dreamworks animation ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, one must be patient befriending a Dragon—but once properly trained, you have a powerful ally under your command.
Dragon’s Advocate
As applications go, Nuance Dragon Dictate has its critics and devotees, but more the latter with this latest release.
Unlike some software, which seems poised for greatness but that fall’s short of it’s full potential through lack of adaptation, Dragon Dictate has become more versatile, and accurate with each version.
Even training your Dragon has become more refined, requiring only 90 seconds of voice recording to create your speakers profile.
The developers clearly resonate the same attention to listening as their application, and with v4 have made improvements based on customer feedback.
As such, the new Dragon comes fully equipped to interpret, transcribe and respond to all manner of commands. Lending well to professions of copious paperwork, digital communications, research and as I have found editorial direction.
Lets take a look at some of the improvements…
– Transcribe from many different formats, including .mp3 .aif .aiff .wav .mp4 .m4a .m4v.
– Transcribe a single speaker’s voice from podcasts or pre-recorded audio files.
– Create transcription-only profiles based on recorded sources instead of a live source.
– Expanded profile capability to allow multiple transcription sources per profile.
– Mix and match voice transcription from a smartphone or portable voice recorder.
– Keep your customisation and vocabulary without switching to a different profile.
And here’s where it gets handsfree…
– Compose and reply to emails in Gmail™ doing dictation and editing natively without having to transfer any text.
– In via Safari® and Firefox® use voice commands to control your Gmail inbox.
– Use your voice to open any visible link or email.
– Mix talking and typing with Full Text Control in Apple® Pages® 4.3
Enter the ‘new’ Dragon…
– Higher performance with drastically reduced latency and faster editing.
– Pure 64- bit application with improved memory management.
– Improved accuracy over version 3.x.
– Optimised for the latest speech recognition technology.
– Best Match V technology.
Dragon of Many Trades
Academic, medical, media and more, it seems Dragon is an application with benefit to many fields. For this review I explored it’s potential as an aid to creative workflow and research, both in and out of the field.
The enhancements outlined above add notable versatility to the application, primarily in its diverse format capabilities—working exceptionally well with one’s smartphone. Journalists and field researchers will appreciate the ability to make notes on their footage for later reference. Upon retuning to the office Dragon makes quick work of transcribing the audio into text, which makes story layout, data cataloguing or photo sequencing a doodle. Like the captain of the enterprise, you can then begin emailing, and editing your work using simple voice commands. With the ability to flow from one format, profile or application to another with seamless efficiency, correlating and confirming data, researching a subject, and archiving photos in expedited fashion.
In a world where news is only relative in the moment it happens, and creative talents fiercely compete for editorial or photographic presence—one must streamline their workflow in order to outrun any rivals. Dragon Dictate provides advantages beyond its initial intention, it also aids researchers and documentarians in the field to fast-track assignments, collaborate, collate and categorise their data quickly.
Dragon Dictate for Mac v4 is available from Nuance Australia starting at $199.95 AU
For more information or to purchase a copy of the software visit: http://australia.nuance.com/index.htm
