I’d like to tell you about the birds and the bees and Dragon NaturallySpeaking.  This will not be a graphic tale, however I would like to share with you one small little pitfall that you may notice a Dragon NaturallySpeaking from time to time.

Today I have the good fortune to be working in my home office, which consists of my front deck sitting in the sun in a beautiful 75° day just north of Atlanta.  The flowers are blooming, the trees are shedding their butts and turning green and the birds and the bees are doing what the birds and the bees do; the Wood bees are eating the wood out from under my feet on my deck and the birds are seen like crazy for reasons I don’t want to get into! 

The thing is that the birds are singing so loudly, that the know is is registering slightly with Dragon NaturallySpeaking when I talk.  So Dragon is picking up my voice and attempting to transcribe the words, but it’s also picking up several chirps and squeals and whistles in the background that are blending with my tenor to baritone voice.

The result is that I am watching my screen transcribe my words and add the word “he” in what appears to be a random fashion every two to three minutes or as the birds ramp up in their cycle.

Yesterday under similar circumstances when the birds were a little more quiet I ran into some similar problems with lawn mowers and chainsaws.  In the past I’ve commented on how my dog barking can trigger the send command when I’m composing an e-mail message.

Now I’m using the noise canceling microphone that comes with Dragon NaturallySpeaking preferred, so I’m in pretty good shape.  I’m not complaining mind you it still works very very well.  However if you are transcribing far that is dictating in a less than quiet atmosphere (especially with a portable device) you should be prepared for the decrease in transcription accuracy that you might even be able to chalk up to the birds and the bees even though it no technical support rep in the world will understand that very well.

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I attend several trade shows and I have a house full of promo pens from these shows. As a small business owner I am familiar with the cost of these promo pens, and I’m also familiar with the fact that the promotions do actually work. A free pen isn’t going to convince you to buy something, however it will remind you of several key ingredients that you may need to buy something. The name of the product, a phone number or web URL and maybe the name of the company.

This of course can backfire if you go out and purchase. She promo pens that only work for half a day and get thrown away your become extremely annoying. It is important to get good-quality promo’s.

Now at CES, a place where I receive zillions of promo pens each year, I saw an interesting gadget. It was a Bluetooth mouse that docs inside your laptop into the slot where you would normally put a wireless card, I apologize I suddenly have forgotten the name of that slot at my PMCIA, but I’m in a remote place without Internet connection today and I don’t have the ability to confirm that.

Regardless this was a cool little mouse it literally fits inside any laptop, and its Bluetooth. It is sexy design and all that good stuff, but as I was thinking about these promo pens I pick up from CES, and as I was thinking about all of the free flash drives I also receive (another great way to run a promotion at a trade show) it dawned on me that these Bluetooth mice might make excellent promotional gifts.

They are small and compact, the kind of cool looking, and there’s something that any traveler with a laptop could definitely benefit from having. Their only missing one key ingredient. I missing an ink pen.

As I do most of my work on a computer I rarely need an ink pen but every now and then I get a phone call and I need to take a note and I’ve got too many screens open on my computer and I just can’t find a screen with a blank space. So I dig around for a pen and usually jot something down with the pen.

It sure would be cool if the pen were built into one of these Bluetooth mice that can be stored in my laptop. Then I would always have a wireless mouse and any pen with me at all times because I’m never even be without my computer!

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