Nuance is offering something akin to a free beta trial of a future service that will enable users to have a Custom Vocabulary.  Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 already works to improve your vocabulary based on a generic model, making adjustments to your words as you use the program.

This would collect information on your vocabulary, send it to the Nuance -Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition labs (Picture doors that open when you tell them to) where they will custom tailor your new vocabulary profile. 

Overview

A new “custom vocabulary” service is being offered to registered users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 and 9. This custom vocabulary will be specifically tuned to your linguistic patterns, and should provide you with a significant accuracy boost when you dictate to Dragon NaturallySpeaking. In most cases, the custom vocabulary we can create in our laboratories far surpasses what can be done with the traditional accuracy enhancing tools available in the boxed copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking you own. There is no cost to participate in this trial version, nor are there specific guarantees regarding performance improvements. However, most users who have participated in this trial so far have reported substantial improvements in accuracy & speed.

 

How does it work?

1. In the Advanced Dialog box, select “Collect data for research purposes”.
   This will signal DNS to begin collecting data as you use the product. After about 10 hours of dictation a message should pop up which directs you to this web site and instructs you to download and the data collector. Do not run the data collector before being prompted to do so or the data collected may be incomplete. The collected information has been stored on your computer. It cannot be sent to Nuance without your consent. The DNS application cannot send this data to Nuance. The data can only be collected from your machine if you run the separate datacollector.exe program which you will download from the Nuance web site.
2. Nuance will analyze your uploaded data and create a custom vocabulary.  Once they are done, they will email you a link to download your new custom vocabulary over the internet.
3. Then you run the new custom vocabulary and in some cases you will see higher accuracy results!

Requirements For Participation

1. You must be running a version of 8 or 9 of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
2. You must have a high-speed connection to the Internet. As part of the process, you will transfer a very large amount of data to us, perhaps 1GB or more. Even with a fast connection, this may take hours to complete. Sending the data to us on a CD/DVD is also an option.
3. You must have at least 500MB disk space free for NaturallySpeaking to collect the data it needs before sending it for analysis and processing.
4. You must agree to the Nuance data gathering agreement-PDF.

How to Set up your system to start collecting the data?

If you have Dragon Naturally Speaking 9, you are already ready to do this if you change a few options settings.  If you are using DNS 8, you will need to download a new patch.

Here’s how you change the options.

Go to your menu and choose Tools>Options

Select the Data Tab and Choose Advanced

Check the Box to start the Data Collection service (and then run Dragon Naturally Speaking for about 10 hours or better)

Dragon Naturally Speaking is a great program and I highly recommend it.  It makes writing, especially emails and long documents very easy.  The program is exceptionally good at tricky word combinations, but does slip up on easy words sometimes.  (like “in” instead of “an” or “and”)

I’m hoping the custom vocabulary might help in this area and other word substitution slip ups.

I do achieve 99% accuracy a majority of the time, but I’m hoping this increases the amount of time, I’m working with DNS9 at 99% accuracy.

Life is full of risks, you can get in a car accident or trip in the shower.  Fortunately, Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 is not very risky.  It works great and is relatively inexpensive compared to the benefit you get from it.  You can mitigate all types of risks with insurance whether you are using car insurance or pet insurance or even life insurance for kids.  I see this custom vocabulary kind of like an insurance that will hopefully help me avoid the risk of word substitutions, especially when my computer is slowing down at the end of a long session.

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For everyone that has sent me emails offering tips on buying phones, PDA’s, smart phones and great coupon offers as a result of my article on how to MacGiver a Treo 600 with a Q-tip, I just wanted to say thank you.

Please do not fear.  My old finned Cadillac of a Treo will be replaced sometime soon.  I have been stalling for a couple reasons.(ok the list grew, there are seven, but the last couple are the most important)

First, I am moving from the Atlanta area to the Charlotte, NC area.  And I wanted to get moved before I made the switch.  I’ve been caught up in lots of move details, real estate contemplations, and other mundane tasks.

Second, I am probably going to switch from T-Mobile to Verizon Wireless, and that’s causing some angst.

• T-Mobile only offers roaming networks in the Charlotte area and that makes checking voice mail a real pain.
• T-Mobile has been a great service and I hate to give up a great service.
• I wouldn’t touch At&t nor Sprint with a ten foot stylus as At&t robbed me blind several years ago, and Sprint fires their customers when Sprints customer service lines get worked to hard.
• Verizon Wireless is the only major network left and we have family already on the network so it makes sense from that perspective.
• I’m not crazy about the way Verizon layers service packages into their plans, so it feels like its going to cost a lot more.

Third, I?m going to import my existing telephone number to the new phone service and I suspect I will run into Murphy?s Law a few times when that takes place.

Fourth, Verizon has not released the new Palm Treo 755P nor the 800P and it?s unknown when they will release either of those. There are rumors that the 755P will come out any day now possibly tie the end of the month, but similar rumors were around two months ago. I?d hate to buy a 700 P. today and had to be outdated tomorrow literally.

Fifth, even if I can get a 755P, that doesn?t include a GPS chip and I would very much like to have the Verizon navigator service running on my next phone when I switched to Verizon. It is rumored that the 800P in the Treo lineup will include a built-in GPS service. So a combination of Verizon?s and Treo?s poor marketing and communications are preventing me from buying anything.

Sixth, Verizon wireless sells the 700P for $359 and the store and $259 online. The 755P sells for $200 at Sprint, and there are rumors of the price point will be the same at Verizon. I would definitely not like to spend more for an outdated model that Verizon.

Seventh, there are $200 blackberries that have all of the capabilities of what the 800 P. is rumored to have, however I don?t want to learn a new operating system with the Blackberry. I?ve been using Palm Treos since the year 2000 and I don?t really feel like learning a new operating system today. I have learned a lot of operating systems over the years, and learning an extra one just for the hell of it doesn?t really get me excited anymore.

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I have an old Treo 600 and I’m just about ready to upgrade, but I haven’t figured out which carrier I’m going with and so I can’t make a final decision on the new Treo I’ll pack next.

About a month ago, I lost the stylus for the phone when I was chasing my lost dog through the woods.  Its hard enough to find a stylus for a new treo let alone find one for one of the oldest treo’s made by Palm.  I haven’t really tried too hard either.

Well, its been getting harder and harder to work the phone without a stylus, especially my alarm clock (using the Butler program).  So the other night when I was cleaning my ears out, enabling me to hear my phone a little better, I thought about hacking the Q-Tip.

So I used a plastic Q-Tip, removed the cotton from one end, and it works great as a stand in stylus.

Here’s some quick shots of the Q-Stylus in action:

It may not be super classy and it definitely won’t turn your treo into an accessory for your diamond rings or bling collection in general.  You might not impress a client for having a lot of style, but you might get the job done more effectively.  So if function over form is your requirement of the day, then hack at it!

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My friend AndrewIanDodge of DodgeBlogium is trying to win a trip to the Superbowl and be featured in Superbowl ad.  He’s one of 10 finalists.

Please consider dropping by to sign up and vote at

http://www.fuelmyblog.com/index.jsp?t=mybowlad

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So iPhone users are starting to experience the joy that comes from doing business with the worlds oldest phone company, at&t.  Their iPhone web surfing and texting transactions are itemized and printed out on detailed pages.

One user put together this short little video showing her 300 PAGE phone bill from at&t.

She posts a nice message at the end of the video encouraging people not to kill forests with their iPhone and change their default billing format to something that won’t require a back brace to move from the mail box to the house.

Disclaimer: I refuse to do business with at&t on principle. They slammed me into a $2.50 per minute calling plan in 2000 when I relocated from Illinois to Florida. They didn’t ask me nor did they tell me that they had slammed me into a higher rate. I didn’t learn about it until I received a long distance bill for $1,000+ Their response to their practice was almost as bad as the bill. As a result I will never do business with at&t again. I’m sure at&t will win over the hearts and minds of iPhone users across the US in similar fashion.

Its not exactly a problem I could call a product liability attorney about, but it sure did raise my blood pressure for several months as I had to deal with customer support on hold for about a total of 50 hours. (unsuccessfully I might add, I had to pay their trumped up bill in full and on time or risk having thems sabotage my credit for their thieving business practice.)

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