NewtonTalk.net June 2009 archive: Re: [NTLK] [OT] New iPhones/iP

From: Ryan Vetter <physicalconstants_at_yahoo.ca>
Date: Mon Jun 15 2009 - 15:24:52 EDT

No doubt privacy is an issue. But there are many people with offices and home offices, and there is a balance between closed door computer sessions and open ones...

As for microphones, noise cancelling ones have come a long way, and MacSpeech Dictate's website includes the approved ones. I have a Logitech wireless USB 2.4 Ghz headset, and it works great. I also set my sound output to pump through my wireless headset, and all system sounds and music are routed through them. I can be at about a 25-30 foot distance from my computer before it starts breaking up.

MacSpeech Dictate's latest uses Dragon Naturally Speaking's Speech Recognition Engine (10). Users have been raving about the speed and accuracy of it.

----- Original Message ----
From: Lord Groundhog <LordGroundhog@gmail.com>
To: "newtontalk@newtontalk.net" <newtontalk@newtontalk.net>
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 3:26:40 AM
Subject: Re: [NTLK] [OT] New iPhones/iPhone OS 3.0

~~~ On 2009/06/15 08:01, Jon Glass at jonglass@usa.net wrote ~~~

> ... Personally, I prefer something more
> discreet ...

Jon, I'm glad to know someone besides me thinks about this! To me this is
even more important than the inability of voice (w)rec(k)ognition to
understand me.

Don't get me wrong; the "touchiness" of voice rec in the presence of ambient
noise is a large problem. If, for example, I decide that a nice day means I
can work outside in the garden, I've yet to get voice rec to work wwithout
annoying and time-consuming artifacts (read: "mistakes"). For some reason,
voice rec doesn't like my neighbour's lawn mower, his son's music, my other
neighbour's conversations in his garden, or in some cases, birdsong. Add to
that, if I'm using voice rec I can't even listen to my own music unless I
feel like using headphones, and even a finely-tuned and accurate voice rec
is waste of my life. I can't even imagine how voice rec works in an
open-plan office, with the constant hum of people talking to their
computers. Does it end up with people swearing at their computers for
getting confused by the background din, and then swearing at them for
accurately reproducing the swearwords? Just wondering.

But the problem of being discreet surpasses every other consideration for
me. Input related to my clients can't be done if other people are able to
overhear it, so with voice rec I not only would be unable to work outdoors
but also I'd have to be sonically isolated even indoors. With a keyboard I
just have to make sure no one's behind me -- and with my Newt, all I have to
do is use "ink text" and I don't even need to worry about someone reading
over my shoulder (yes, my handwriting has prompted people to ask if I'm a
doctor). Then when I'm in private, just select, double-tap, and voila!

Sweet. Discreet. Complete.

Anyone figure out how to do that with an iPhone yet? :-D

Shalom.
Christian

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

³Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from a Newton.²
-- what Arthur C. Clarke meant

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ZzpdPJ7Zr4
(With thanks to Chod Lang)
http://tinyurl.com/29y2dl
http://www.diyplanner.com/node/3942

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