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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Now Available |
Aug 24, 2010 |
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New versions of the premiere voice recognition software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking are now available!
From improved accuracy and faster performance, to an intuitive user interface with a rich Help system, powerful new voice commands, and an enhanced correction and adaptation process, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 has been redesigned to be FASTER, BETTER and SIMPLY SMARTER.
The Dragon user interface now offers better usability, and includes a new Sidebar showing tips as well as many commands. It’s now easier to discover, remember, and access important Dragon features and options. New Recognition Analytics continuously monitor audio quality and alert users when there is an audio issue, to help them achieve their best accuracy. More than ever, Dragon 11 enables users to focus on their thoughts and ideas rather than the mouse, keyboard or computer screen.
Dragon 11 is more accurate out of the box than version 10, and uses state-of-the-art technology. Thanks to improvements at various levels, corrections are faster to make, and quickly become less necessary. Version 11 “learns” better than any previous version, including from existing documents and dictations as well as from corrections made via the keyboard. Dragon 11 responds faster to voice commands and also introduces new time-saving commands that consolidate multiple mouse clicks and keystrokes. It’s faster and easier to open applications, get to a particular window, move within a window, send e-mail, create appointments, search the Web, and more – all by voice. So now users can get even more done faster on their computers.
Improved Accuracy
Reduced Word Recognition Errors: Dragon 11 significantly improved recognition accuracy and can reduce recognition errors up to 15% compared with Dragon 10. This means Dragon 11 recognizes speech more accurately right out of the box so users will spend less time correcting recognition errors.
Smart Configuration: Dragon 11 runs on a variety of hardware, from small netbooks to high-powered servers. Dragon automatically detects hardware resources and sets up the recommended configuration. Dragon’s state-of-the-art technology takes advantage of advances in hardware and runs in multiple-threads automatically when multi-core hardware is detected to achieve better recognition performance.
Easy Scheduling of Accuracy Tuning: This automatic process plays a large role in improving a user’s accuracy from his or her own usage, since it adapts the profile based on what dictations and corrections have already been done. It must run at a time when the computer is on, but the user is not dictating. In version 11, scheduling Accuracy Tuning no longer requires a Windows password, so the user can easily choose a time and frequency that fit his or her schedule.
Recognition Analytics: Because a significant percentage of misrecognitions can be caused by simple audio quality issues such as incorrect microphone connection or placement, background noise, and Bluetooth microphone out of range or low on battery, Dragon now automatically detects poor audio input; it then alerts the user (in various ways depending on the issue), offering advice to remedy the situation. This lets Dragon use the best audio possible -- an important factor for accuracy.
Faster Recognition Response for Commands and Dictation
Faster Response Times: Dragon 11 improved recognition response time significantly. It is also faster than previous editions when selecting application menu items by voice or executing voice commands that perform actions within applications (e.g., "insert page break," "make that red," etc.)
New User Interface
Dictate faster and more efficiently: Dragon quickly processes the recognition of speech in the background, and instead of the Results box of previous versions, displays only a discreet indicator that recognition is in progress; this encourages continuous speech, an important factor for accuracy. Novice users are no longer distracted by watching the preliminary recognition results pooling and changing within the Results Box before text is inserted into the document. (The traditional Results box is still available as an option.)
New Dragon Sidebar: A major enhancement over Version 10’s Sample Commands window, this new desktop assistant allows users to discover and remember many commands and tips; at any time, it lets you glance at or explore global commands (including mouse commands), application-specific commands and custom-created commands, as well as tips. The Dragon Sidebar is a thin, resizable and dockable window that can be placed anywhere on the Windows desktop. Its contents change depending on what window is currently active. In addition, the Sidebar lets users print its content.
Richer Help system: The redesigned Accuracy Center (accessible from the Help menu) now gathers all important tools and options, with brief descriptions of key items to help discovery. The Help system also incorporate new tips and illustrations, a redesigned Tutorial, short videos, and easy access to related details such as a glossary of key terms. Finding relevant information is faster and easier thanks also to icon links on the Dragon Sidebar and contextual links on dialog boxes – as well as new voice shortcuts you can speak at any time (“Search Dragon Help for…”).
More usable toolbar (the DragonBar): The naming and organization of items on the DragonBar now allow users to discover and quickly access important but often-overlooked Dragon features, such as the Vocabulary Editor, the analysis of specific documents, scheduled tasks, and recognition modes (Dictation Mode, Numbers Mode, etc..). Now docked to the top of the screen by default, the DragonBar gathers in one area all its indicators: icons and written messages.
Text Control Indicator on the DragonBar: This checkmark icon on the DragonBar indicates whether Dragon currently has "Full Text Control" for the active text field. Formerly called “Select-and-Say”, “Full Text Control” enables capabilities such as the use, at anytime, of commands that quote words from the text (“Select…”, “Correct…”, “Delete…”, “Insert Before…”). When the insertion point is in a field for which Dragon does not have Full Text Control, Dragon dims this checkmark icon and writes a message in the DragonBar; this informs the user that he or she may wish to dictate via Dragon’s Dictation Box which gives access to Dragon’s full capabilities to edit and correct text (as in previous versions).
Time-Saving Voice Commands
More Dragon Voice Shortcuts: Dragon 11 includes more commands than ever to consolidate multiple mouse clicks and keystrokes into a direct voice command that can be spoken anytime -- no matter what is active on the screen. Users can now use the "search [website] for [XYZ]" commands to make precise searches in Facebook.com, Twitter, IRS.gov, MySpace.com, as well as the Nuance technical knowledgebase website. Dragon 11 also lets users voice keyword searches in its Help topics (“Search Dragon Help for [XYZ]”), and includes new voice shortcuts that make it faster and easier to manage email, tasks and meetings.
Navigating the Computer Desktop: Dragon now supports more voice commands to show common Windows elements including the desktop and Control Panel, or folders such as My Documents and My Pictures. New commands enable users to effortlessly switch to a specific window (Dragon displays a numbered list so the user can just say the number of the desired window.) In addition, Dragon 11 allows shorter names for starting popular applications (e.g., "start Microsoft Word" instead of “start Microsoft Office Word 2007”).
Navigating Documents: Dragon 11 allows users to scroll up or down pages within programs including Word, Outlook, Excel, and more, with the same command wordings such as “Start scrolling down,” “Speed up” and “Stop scrolling.”
More Precise Keyword Searching: For its search shortcut commands, Dragon 11 now applies its autoformatting rules to the dictated search keywords (the XYZ in “Search … for XYZ”). In addition, it gives the user the option to edit or augment the search string before launching the search (without this option, the user must say the entire search command in one utterance: Dragon will launch the search as soon as it hears a pause). These enhancements can save a lot of time, since the more precise your search string, the faster you find exactly what you need.
Getting Started with Dragon is Fater and Easier
Faster and Easier to Create a User Profile: User profile creation has been redesigned to be simple and conversational. The process now offers information about why each step is needed and helps users make optimal choices. Setting up a microphone or new audio source is more clear and straightforward.
Local Settings: During user profile creation, users can now select their region of the world so that Dragon can automatically use regional formatting for dates, currency, etc.
New Text Options to “Train” Dragon: Dragon 11 provides simplified training texts designed to make the reading experience easier and more informative.
Easier than Ever to Use Dragon with a Digital Voice Recorder
Initial Training Time Reduced for Recorders: Creating a new user profile for a digital recorder, or adding a digital recorder as a new audio source for an existing user profile, is now much faster: the minimum reading time required to train Dragon with a recorder has been reduced from 15 to 4 minutes.
Ability to Use .DSS and .DS2 Files: Dragon 11 can now accept .dss and .ds2 formats directly. Files recorded using these digital speech recording formats (found on recorders from Olympus, Grundig and Philips) previously required conversion prior to transcription.
Improved Playback
Smoother fast-forward and rewind behaviors are now available and users now have options to control speed and volume
Enhanced Hardware and Software Support
Netbook Computers: Users can now comfortably view the Dragon user interface and tutorials on netbook (mini notebook) computers.
Office 2010: Dragon 11 is compatible with Microsoft Office 2010 applications. Full Text Control, Menu Tracking, and Natural Language Commands are supported for Word 2010, Outlook 2010, and Excel 2010 allowing users to take full advantage of Dragon dictation and commands in these new applications.
OpenOffice Writer: Support includes dictation, correction, selection, and playback.
Additional Usability Enhancements
Require “Click” to Select Hyperlinks: This option is now enabled by default so that, while in a Web page, users don’t experience unexpected actions upon saying a short phrase which is also the name of a hyperlink on the page.
Enhanced Open User Dialog for Large Sites (Pro +): Displays profiles in a tree structure for faster access to multiple profiles.
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Mobile Speak 4.5 Now Available for Symbian & Windows Mobile |
July 9, 2010 |
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Mobile Speak 4.5, a free update for all users of Mobile Speak 4.0, is now available!
Mobile Speak 4.5 for Symbian
Since the release of Mobile Speak 4.1, Code Factory’s Symbian development team has focused its efforts on two main areas: Touch Screen and Web Browser support.
Mobile Speak 4.5 includes two new touch screen interaction modes, based on the concept of a standard joystick and a standard numeric keypad. All of the physical keys used to control the screen reader and phone in non touch screen devices have now been converted by Mobile Speak into very intuitive virtual touch keys. It is therefore easier and faster to enter text, dial a number or navigate through the menus of your touch screen device
The two new touch screen input methods are named Keypad mode and Joystick mode. The Keypad mode is the default touch mode. You can switch to the Joystick mode with command + volume up key, and then use command + volume down key to go back to the Keypad mode.
In Keypad mode, the touch screen is divided into 12 virtual keys, arranged just like a phone keypad (1, 2, and 3 at the top; 4, 5, and 6 in the second row; 7, 8, and 9 in the third; and the star, 0, and hash keys in the bottom row). By accessing the Keypad mode, you can type numbers and letters just as with a physical keypad, including using predictive text to compose text messages and email. This input method allows you to enter text faster than either a virtual keyboard or a review cursor with an onscreen keyboard.
Besides this Keypad mode, Mobile Speak 4.5 also features a Joystick mode in which the touch screen is divided into 9 virtual keys, arranged in a 3 x 3 grid. This touch input mode is intended for users who prefer to interact with the phone using taps rather than by slide gestures. The central key is joystick Enter, while the 4 keys directly above, below, left and right of the joystick correspond to the joystick up, down, left and right keys. The bottom left key is the left softkey, and the bottom right key is the right softkey, and the upper right key is the delete key (upper left is unassigned). Therefore if you are scrolling a list, you only have to make taps on the top center or bottom center of your touch screen to scroll up and down the list.
More new features:
- Support for the Nokia calendar application in several new devices where it was not yet supported (e.g. E52, E72, E75, 6730, C5) when in Month, Agenda or To-do views.
- Support for TweetS60, the popular 3rd party Twitter client.
- Support for the Focus 40 Blue Braille portable device from Freedom Scientific. Listen to Jonathan Mosen's demo at http://www.codefactory.es/descargas/Audio/focus_40_blue.mp3
- Support for new phones: Nokia C5, Nokia C6, Nokia E5 and Nokia E73 Mode (for T-Mobile USA).
- Changed T9 predictive text functionality so that, when entering text in predictive mode and with Keyboard Echo set to Characters, the whole word it spoken (just like it currently is when Keyboard Echo is set to Characters and Words). Also speaking the whole word when typing a space in predictive mode with keyboard echo set to "Characters".
- Added feature to the user dictionary to allow the copying of dictionaries between different voices.
- Added "Include in Toggle Profile command" setting in General Tab. When set to Off, the Mobile Speak Profile is not included when toggling profile with Command + Clear. Default is On for all profiles.
- Touch devices: Added new commands: Command + volume up and Command + volume down. These allow you to easily cycle through Mobile Speak's touchmodes : Keypad, Joystick, Quadrant, Review Cursor and Stylus mode.
- Touch: Added Configuration option in General tab called "Touch mode on startup" which allows you to select the Mobile Speak touch mode that will be first active when Mobile Speak is launched.
- Activation: issues with SMS and Internet activation that existed with some operators (e.g. AT&T) have now been resolved.
Mobile Speak 4.5 for Windows Mobile
Since the release of Mobile Speak 4.0, Code Factory’s Windows Mobile development team has focused its efforts on improving Mobile Speak’s touch interface, and make the touch experience more intuitive and accessible than ever.
Mobile Speak 4.5 includes two new touch screen interaction modes, based on the concept of a standard joystick and a standard numeric keypad. All of the physical keys used to control the screen reader and phone in non touch screen devices have now been converted by Mobile Speak into very intuitive virtual touch keys. It is therefore easier and faster dial a number, enter text, or navigate through the menus of your touch screen device.
The two new touch screen input methods are named Keypad mode and Joystick mode. You can switch to the Keypad and Joystick modes from the default Quadrant mode with command + volume up/down key.
In Keypad mode, the touch screen is divided into 12 virtual keys, arranged just like a phone keypad (1, 2, and 3 at the top; 4, 5, and 6 in the second row; 7, 8, and 9 in the third; and the star, 0, and hash keys in the bottom row). By accessing the Keypad mode, you can type numbers just as with a physical keypad.
Besides this Keypad mode, Mobile Speak 4.5 also features a Joystick mode in which the touch screen is divided into 9 virtual keys, arranged in a 3 x 3 grid. This touch input mode is intended for users who prefer to interact with the phone using taps rather than by slide gestures. The central key is joystick Enter, while the 4 keys directly above, below, left and right of the joystick correspond to the joystick up, down, left and right keys. The bottom left key is the left softkey, and the bottom right key is the right softkey, and the upper right key is the delete key (upper left is unassigned). Therefore if you are scrolling a list, you only have to make taps on the top center or bottom center of your touch screen to scroll up and down the list.
More commands are available with the Joystick mode: long tap on the top left key (virtual key 1) to start menu, long tap on the top right key (virtual key 3) to close an application, long tap on bottom left (virtual key 7) to lock/unlock screen and device, and long tap on bottom right to toggle the privacy mode.
Based on Mobile Speak users’ feedback, some touch gestures have been reassigned to use the virtual touch keyboard in a more effective way:
- Triple tap: exit Touch Keyboard.
- Slide up/down/left/right: arrow keys, navigate the text.
- Double tap 1: simulate space key.
- Double tap 2: simulate back key.
- Double tap 3: simulate enter key.
- Double tap 4: Activate the “Keyboard layouts” mode which allows to switch the keyboard layout (slide left/right) and the keyboard language (slide up/down).
Mobile Speak 4.5 also features a new Braille touch input mode. This mode divides the screen in 2 columns and 4 rows which emulate a Braille keyboard with 8 keys. Keys are mapped as Braille dots using this layout:
- Left column (from up to bottom): Dot 7, Dot 3, Dot 2, Dot 1.
- Right column (from up to bottom): Dot 8, Dot 6, Dot 5, Dot 4.
You can type text using this mode by following these steps: Dots can be switched on/off by pressing their virtual key. Note that there's no multitouch support in Windows Mobile so you need to configure your Braille character dot by dot. Each time you press a dot Mobile Speak will announce "Dot X on/off". Once you have activated all the desired dots, perform a slide down to type the character.
Apart from activating and deactivating Braille dots you can also use slides:
- Slide up: Reset Braille dots.
- Slide down: Type current character. If all the Braille dots are deactivated this gesture will simulate the Space key.
- Slide left: Backspace key.
- Slide right: Enter key.
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Mobile Geo 2.5 Now Available |
May 25, 2010 |
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Three months after the release of Mobile Geo 2.0, Code Factory is proud to release V2.5, a free update for all users of Mobile Geo 2.0. Mobile Geo is the best navigation tool for blind people who want to explore the world with their mobile phone. To learn more about Mobile Geo visit http://www.codefactory.es/en/products.asp?id=336
Main highlights of Mobile Geo 2.5:
- Compatibility with 2010 maps and POIs, available at http://mobilegeo.senderogroup.com/users (user: mgdemo2010, pwd: codefactory). Note that full licenses will require new map keys for each registered user.
- Address search by zip postal code. There are now two search options, you can either search by city or zip code. It is especially useful for big cities which have numerous zip codes for the same area. For example instead of searching by Barcelona you can search by 08004 for more accuracy.
- Manual route creation feature, which allows you to save your own waypoints while creating a route and then replay the route following your own itinerary instead of Mobile Geo's automatic route calculation.
- Support for Google Transit Feeds. You first need to login to your Sendero account and download the Google transit feed you are interested in. Then you will be able to search for the Google Transit information under the "Travel/Entertainment" subcategory "Transit Stop". There are already 20 feeds converted such as New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and more will follow!
- Support for 4 new country maps: Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, and United Arab Emirates. To learn more about the supported maps as well as region map bundles visit http://www.codefactory.es/en/products.asp?id=336#Maps
- Easier ways to manage user POIs: You can set a user POI as a route destination. Go to Functions (left softkey) > Set positions > User POI and you will access the POIs list. Then when you press enter on the POI of your choice, you can select between "Open", "Set as destination", "Set as virtual position", or "Delete".
- Ability to create and save a route based on a GPS replay. Go to Functions (left softkey) > Modes > GPS Replays > GPS Replay list, select a file from the list and press Enter on it. The popup menu will show a new option called "Create route from replay". Once the route is created, you can load and follow it, review its waypoints, delete the route and do all the same things that you can do with any other saved route in your device.
Mobile Geo 2.5 is compatible with the current version of Mobile Speak 4 for Windows Mobile, there is no new version of Mobile Speak to install to run Geo 2.5.
The direct link to download Mobile Geo 2.5 is http://www.codefactory.es/download.asp?file=family_5/product_20/version_105/MobileGeo_2_5_21.zip
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KNFB Mobile 6.4 Released |
May 27, 2010 |
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 Announcing version 6.4.0 of the knfbReader Mobile software
On December 22, 2009, we released version 6.3.1 of our Mobile Reader to include support for 5 additional phones along with the ability to activate the Reader for a 14-day trial period. This release was updated on March 5, 2010 with version 6.3.4 issued to resolve certain problems affecting performance of the Mobile Reader as intended, and to address specific Problems with performance on some phones during the 14-day trial period.
Beginning with version 6.4 now being released for U. S. and U. K. English only, several new features described below are being added as a free upgrade for all users. This upgrade will also be released for other languages within the next few weeks. To obtain this version of the kReader or the knfbReader Mobile, please visit:
http://www.knfbreader.com/licenses.php
Detailed procedures which must be followed to install and activate the Mobile Reader software are available on the FAQ page:
http://www.knfbreader.com/faq.php#30
These procedures should be followed carefully to ensure correct installation. Previous versions of the Mobile Reader software installed prior to version 6.3.1 should be removed from the phone before installing version 6.4. Upgrades from version 6.3.1 or later can simply be replaced with version 6.4.
New Features in This Release
Level Indicator — This provides information through audible beep tones to indicate whether and how much the Reader is tilted when held over the target. True horizontal is indicated by the absence of beeps. Beep pulsing increases as the Reader moves from horizontal toward vertical, and pulsing slows as the Reader becomes more level above the target. Beeps will be heard if the Reader is tilted away, end to end, side to side or both away from horizontal. This feature only works in image capture and must be switched on or off in the settings menu.
Glare Report — This feature informs users if light from the camera or another source is causing glare to be reflected on the image. The report is presented during image processing and will indicate whether the glare is some, moderate, or significant. No glare is detected if a glare report is not provided.
Open Text File in Notes — This feature allows the text from a captured image to be displayed in the phone's text reading program called notes, rather than switching to the text reading screen during image processing. With the text displayed in notes, the file is exposed to the phone's screen reader and may also be read with a supported Braille display. Note that processing must finish completely before the notes file is opened and this feature can be switched on or off by going to the Reader settings menu.
Color Identifier — This feature provides a verbal report of color captured in an image by pressing 7 on the keypad at the image capture screen. The report only includes a single color as seen by the camera. Best results will normally be achieved with the camera flash turned on and when color detection images are captured in moderate in-door light.
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