Hi Everyone, This is Brett Bumeter from softduit.com. I am here outside of my office today in North Carolina where it’s a little bit breezy and I’m testing out my new wireless Logitech headset. I’m testing it out with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which is running on my computer in my office right now.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 is capturing my words as I save them from a distance of approximately ten feet at the moment.

I’m attempting to do this in one continuous shot so that you’ll know that there’s no film tricks going on here. To do that I’m using an XShot photo stick, basically a single bar tripod, and I am also utilizing a tape measure to mark the distance from which I’m standing and writing.

As you can see right now I’m zoomed out all the way. I am approximately 20 feet away from my laptop which is still continuing to capture the words that I say using my Logitech wireless headset and Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

This headset is supposed to have a range of approximately 33 feet at the extreme.

So I’m walking just a little further out here on my dock to try and get a check of the distance with the system. Now my camera only has a limited zoom capability. So at this point I’m actually about10 feet past the extent of my tape measure

There’s my laptop in the distance.

I’m trying to zoom in and keep this steady. (I tried to edit this from a distance, but could not read the editing box terribly easy. Editing would be best suited for a later time, when you can listen back to the words that you have stated.)

As you can see it’s a little tricky editing from this distance I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using a wireless headset from a distance of 30 feet if you need to edit.

This would be a great way though to do some brainstorming especially if you like to walk while you talk. Personally, that’s exactly how my brain works. I think better when I’m walking around or standing up than I do when I’m sitting down behind a desk.

Now my office coworkers they don’t really seem to mind where I work as long as I feed them enough treats throughout the day. But that’s not necessarily any different from office workers in any environment. So as you can see this actually does work fairly well even from a long distance but it’s a tool and like any tool you have to find the right application for that tool. In this case I think it would be very good for people that are trying to write longform articles, documents or maybe even a novel or something Like in the NaNoWriMo writing contest.

So if you’re looking for a great tool that frees you up from having to work on your computer, behind a desk, locked there with ball and chain, Dragon NaturallySpeaking might be the thing for you, and a wireless headset might even give you additional freedom to get away from your keyboard and away from your computer altogether. I’m Brett Bumeter and I hope you enjoyed this little video.

Original Transcription Text from working with Logitech Wireless Headset Microphone and Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Preferred 

This may have errors in it, but I wanted to provide it so that you could watch the video and get a sense of how well the microphone worked from a distance.  (the wind did blow or gust up once or twice which might have also played a role)

Everyone does the regular from softduit.com I am here outside of my office today in North Carolina where it’s a little bit breezy and I’m testing out my new wireless Logitech headset I’m testing it out with Dragon NaturallySpeaking which is running on my computer in my office right now

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is capturing my words as I save them from a distance of approximate latency at the moment

I’m attempting to do this in one continuous shot so that you’ll know that there’s no film tricks going on here to do that I’m using an action at photo stick basically collect a single bar tripod and also utilizing the tape measure to mark the distance from which I’m standing and writing

As you can see right now I’m zoomed all the way of approximately 20 feet away from my laptop which is still continuing to capture the words that I say using my Logitech wireless headset and Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Others headsets boast to have a range of approximately 33 feet at the extreme.

And so I’m walking just a little but further of your my.to try and get a check of the distance with the system now my camera only has a limited zoom capability to the WiMAX 10 feet past the extent of my tape measure

There’s my laptop in the distance

I’m trying to zoom in and keep this study

As you can see it’s a little tricky editing from this distance I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using a wireless headset from a distance of 30 feet if you need to edit.

This would be a great way though to do some brainstorming especially if you like to walk while you talk personally that’s exactly how my brain works I think better when I’m walking around standing up that I do when I’m sitting down behind a desk even when I work from a desk in such a beautiful setting your North Carolina.

Now my office coworkers they don’t really miss early seem to mind where I work as long as them as long as I feed them enough treats drug today but that’s not necessarily any different from office workers in any environment so as you can see this actually does work fairly well even from a long distance but it’s a tool and like any tool you have to find the right application for the right application for that tool in this case I think it would be very good for people that are trying to write longform articles documents or maybe even a novel for something like the nano remote writing contest.

So if you’re looking for a great tool that frees you up from having to work on your computer behind a desk locked in with ball and chain, Dragon NaturallySpeaking might be the thing for you, and a wireless headset might even give you additional freedom not only away from your keyboard away from your computer altogether I broken her and I hope you enjoyed this little video and I hope to see you around soon by this

So there you have it. If you are working with highly technical topics, this is not likely going to be a good fit for transcriptions of medical charts, or legal case analysis for issues with Leptovox, but if you just want to capture some free flow thought, do some brainstorming, and especially if you keep a separate audio file copy of everything you say, this can be a very useful tool, and a lot of fun!

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I have worked on a couple different projects to teach younger children (3rd – 5th grade) how to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking both with version 9 and now with the new version 10.  From my experience Version 10 is easier, because it requires less training time.

That said the training environment is not geared towards children and for that matter its not really geared towards those with vision impairments, which is rather odd. 

Frankly, its a definite product short fall that should be corrected in version 11, and preferably in an update to version 10 (where it should have been to begin with).

That said, it is still a very good tool for helping children to learn how to compose their thoughts into text and an even better tool for older users that have visual impairments. 

Its this weird paradox that actually enables me to categorize this article under both Improving Technology and Broken Technology at the same time!

When I served in the military years ago, we used to say that you go to war with the army that you have.  That means both people and equipment.  So I’m not going to belly-ache about the absence of a design that would make this better for young users or the visually impaired.  Instead, I’m offering up some tips to help them get started.

1. The primary goal for a young user or the visually impaired is to get the minimum training accomplished so that they can then begin to use the product with a program like Microsoft Word.  With that program both groups can increase the zoom up to something that is easier to read.
2. For children, I recommend that they train with an adult standing by waiting to help them with any words they can not say or can not read.
3. Alternatively, the text at the bottom of this article has been transcribed from the DNS10 training session from one of the articles written for children.  A user could copy this text and print it out in a large enough font to read.  The problem is that the reading window that Dragon NaturallySpeaking uses for training is too small, has text that is too small, and it can not be resized to fill up the screen.
4. In addition, a user could set the resolution on their computer at a very low level like 800×600 which will increase the size of the box and the text.
5. As a final alternative, a user could ask someone else to record the text of the training session, and then they could listen to that recording and speak it while they listen.  Again they may need someone to help them know when to begin speaking and when to stop (in between new windows)

These are the segments that you might want to copy and paste into a more readable format.

In this step the computer listens to the sound of your voice and adjust the volume setting of your microphone when the computer is finished adjusting the volume it beeps to signal that the process is complete if you reach the end of this text but you have not heard a beep start reading the text again from the beginning you should only have to read about 10 to 15 seconds

In this step the computer checks the audio input from your sound system having high-quality audio input is very important for good speech recognition or audio input will make it difficult or impossible for the program to recognize your speech accurately when the computer has finished checking the audio quality it beeps to signal that the test is complete if you reach the end of this text but you have not heard a beep start reading the text again from the beginning you should only have to read for about 15 seconds

Welcome to general training

training is about to begin

You are about to read some short stories. The computer will listen while you read, so they can learn what your voice sounds like. Students at Provo high school wrote these stories for you to read. Michael Rutter and Carl’s Barksdale edited them. We hope you enjoy the stories! Susie, the singing swine by J. E. E. Rockwood once upon a time there was a pig. But this wasn’t any ordinary pig. This pig could talk! Oh it sounds crazy, but it’s true! She could say all the words you and I can, and even some we can’t. Farmer Bill used to come out every day and talk with that pig. It was quite a sight to see. Farmer Bill set on a tree stump with the pig right by him. They talked as though it was the most natural thing in the world for a farmer and his pig to speak with one another. It had never occurred to Bill that most pigs can’t talk. It was quite a shock when it dawned on him. He was talking to his wife, Lucille, during dinner. Bill mentions something his pig had said. Lucille looked up from her plate and stared at Bill. "Pigs can’t talk! They are stupid," she said as she took another bite. Bill thoughtfully chewed his carrot. Obviously not all pigs were too stupid to talk. This pig could talk! Then he thought that if his pig could talk just like people can, maybe she could do other things people can do to. Maybe she could cough, hum, or maybe she could sing! What an idea! The thought kept turning over in Bill’s mind as he finished his supper. He calmly walked out to the pasture and knelt by Susie, the pig. "I have a question," he said. "Can you sing? The pig smiled as well as a pig can smile and said, "of course I can sing!" She started singing the most amazing song, Beethoven’s "ode to Joy." It was the best song bill had ever heard! "That’s amazing!" He said, "can you sing anything else?" Susie pranced around Farmer Bill singing Mozart. "I’ve never heard anyone sing like you before!" Bill patted the pig’s head and smiled warmly before walking back to the house. Once inside, Bill picked up the phone and called an old friend of his from school. This friend happened to run Carnegie Hall. It was the very same Carnegie Hall that all the great musical people have performed an explanation point they had a pleasant conversation before Bill went to bed. A week later a huge crowd gathered at Carnegie Hall. Nobody knew what was going on. They heard that some special performer was out to sing, someone fantastic. But not a single person knew who it was! The mystery only added to the excitement. The crowd became quiet as the orchestra warmed up. They were still as the lights dimmed. There was a long silence as the crowd leaned forward in their chairs and listened to the announcer. "Carnegie Hall is proud to present. Susie!" Farmer Bill walked onto the stage in a suit. Following him on a leash came his amazing pig. She wore a bright pink dress with tiny white polka dots and trimmed in lace. Around her head was a white bow. The crowd sat in surprised silence. They didn’t know if they were supposed to cheer or laugh! Bill remove the leash as Susie sat herself down in front of the orchestra. Bill walked off the stage, leaving Susie alone.

So that’s it so far. This took more effort than I realized to create, and I keep thinking that there must be a better way to go about this. That said, short of combing through Nuance’s job search board or something, it would seem that this function would be best handled by Nuance in house.

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This weekend I was testing out Logitech’s ClearChat PC Wireless (noise cancellation headset microphone) with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred.

You can read some of my initial impressions written with the headset and DNS 10 below:

Okay so now I’m using Microsoft Word I want to see just how well this works from a bit of a distance. I’m walking over across from my office this is really cool I am standing about 20 feet away from a computer typing on my computer while I look at it from a distance

…

I have a portable heater blowing warm air against my feet and it is making a little bit of noise in the background. That’s it doesn’t seem to be impacting my computer nor my microphone whatsoever. This is just flat-out amazing I can’t believe how well this works.

…

This is exceeding all of my expectations and then some. I can pace and type at the same time. This is pretty damn cool!

I will try and get some video of this in action very soon.  I had to charge it for 2.5 hours out of the packaging.  Then plugged it in, no software, it just worked.  I was amazed.  This works on the 2.4Ghz protocol, its not a bluetooth headset.  That said at $99 it is about $200 cheaper than the bluetooth headsets I’ve been able to find so far.

Being the technophile uber geek that I am, I’m even wondering if I can enjoy watching movies in my home theater seating arrangement (known as a couch) while dictating movie reviews into the headset to my computer placed in a different room.

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Today I made the transition from QuickBooks version 2006 to QuickBooks online. I’ve been contemplating an upgrade or possibly a switch from QuickBooks to a newer version or possibly even over two Microsoft’s new accounting system.

I’ve been using QuickBooks for about two and half years now and it has been a fairly reliable system for me. I am an accountant, and I have always felt like this particular software program was a little bit of overkill for the needs that I had. In addition to QuickBooks 2006 was not compatible with Microsoft Vista. To get a QuickBooks version that was compatible with Microsoft Vista you had to go with the 2007 version or something newer. QuickBooks is relatively expensive, and if you contemplate any or all of the modules that go with it can be downright expensive.

I have a relatively simple bookkeeping system and I didn’t really need most of the functionality that comes with QuickBooks. However there were times I wish I had some of the added features that do come with the other modules.

Well today I finally made a transition and I ended up going with QuickBooks online. The online system does not require an upfront payment of several hundred dollars like the software version does. The online version charges anywhere from $10 a month to about $35 a month with an additional $17 a month if you want to accept credit card transactions. The nice thing about this system is that it is scalable in cost and scalable in service and options. I don’t ever have to worry about installing or updating the software on my machine which was a bit of a pain in the butt with the software version in the past. In fact I’ve been prompted with QuickBooks 2006 to install an update on my machine for about a year and a half now every time I login. The only problem is that update cannot be installed on my machine for some of obscure reason I’ve never been able to find an answer for.

With the online version of QuickBooks I don’t have to worry about upgrades anymore I can leave that to Intuit. I will always have the most up-to-date version and I won’t have to worry about software eating up resources on my machine. On the downside, I will always have to be logged into work with my books. That can be a problem if my Internet connection is down, however I do have multiple backups for connections. I run three different Internet connection services for my business: one cable Internet, one DSL connection, and one 3G Internet connection as well. So if the Internet is down for me, then I will probably have bigger problems than trying to access my books online.

So far the interface for QuickBooks online seems almost identical to the interface that I’m used to with the software version. For anyone worried about having an interface that’s different, or getting used to a new interface and having to train or retrain people, from what I’ve seen so far the difference is extremely minimal. Most of the items from my old version of QuickBooks, the actual company data, was able to be uploaded to the online version, and within about 10 minutes I was able to transition all my book work from my hard drive to the online version of QuickBooks.

That seemed pretty impressive to me, and I do not seem to have lost any information or data with the single exception that my invoice formatting has disappeared. If you have elaborate invoice setups already done in QuickBooks I could see how this could be a problem area I lost my logo and the setup for my invoices.

I don’t personally have elaborate invoices and so this is not too big of a deal for me, however I do know from past experience working with many other companies that invoice customization can be a lot of work and if you have to redo that during the transition from a software version of QuickBooks to the online version of QuickBooks, that could be problematic and could cost you a couple weeks worth of work. That said all things considered, I think I made a wise choice and immediately post-transition, I’m very happy with the results.

I should also add that you don’t have to pay anything up front for the online edition. I’m currently on a free 30 day trial, even though I definitely anticipate paying for the subscription. My first question will be, what level of subscription will I need to continue doing business way I’m used to doing business.

From everything I’ve seen, I think I will be able to continue at about $9.95 per month. From mine perspective that definitely beats paying $250 or $300(about the cost of a big lcd monitor) out of pocket buying the software at Sam’s Club or even downloading online. Even if I have to pay $16 or $20 a month for a slightly more advanced version of the online system I don’t think it would be that big of an issue, and if the day ever comes where I’ve spent more money on the online version that I would’ve on the software, I think it will probably be a wash if I consider the amount of time to spend installing the software, maintaining the software, and dealing with a few issues that always come with a new software program that you install on your computer. Freeing up resources on my computer for the things that actually generate revenue for my company, well that’s just priceless.

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One week from today the national novel writing month (NaNoWriMo) contest or event begins. This is a event where people from all around the world gather together online every day for a month to attempt to write a novel, or a 50,000 word novella about anything. This novel writing contest is not necessarily intended to produce a polished finish novel ready for publication. It is intended to produce the words necessary to create such a novel. It’s basically one of those confidence building contests to show you that it is possible to write that many words, or at least the number of words it would take to publish about 170 page book.

It is a major milestone for a number of people, and once you have that book published, or at least uploaded online through the contest, you can also then seek out and receive a significant amount of support from the large number of people that participate in the contest.

They can help give you feedback on your writing style, your plot, your characters and how realistic they are and a wide range of areas that help you improve the book so that you can get ready for publication.

This contest takes place every year during the month of November and starts on November 1. There will be launching parties for the contest. Many of those will be kicking off on Halloween at midnight.

This year I will be participating in the contest for the second time ever, although this will hopefully be the first time that I’ve completed or will complete that is an actual novel. 

I haven’t completed this contest in years past, so before I put on my Dansko shoes and start clog dancing, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me!

Last year I only made it to about 10,000 words. Work and travel and other events took me away from the contest and I wasn’t able to complete it. This year I have an ace up my sleeve. I’m using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 10, which enables me to not only talk without using my keyboard, but it also allows me to talk and write without even sitting at my computer. As I write this article right now I’m actually driving my car down the road to the airport to pick up some friends and family that are getting back from the Bahamas.

I’m using a microphone with noise cancellation capabilities plugged in to a Sony voice recorder. I take the voice recorder which has a USB jack on it, I plug it into my computer, and I upload the voice file in the form of an MP3 file onto my computer. I can then use Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10, the preferred edition and not the basic, to convert the MP3 file into text. I do a little bit of editing to the text, and I published my article that you’re reading today.

I’m hoping to use the same tool and the benefits that come from this tool to get my 50,000 words out for this writing contest much faster and easier than I did last year. When I write with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 in this style, I can write about 3000 words in 30 minutes. It does take a little getting used to, and it does take a little practice to write at a level that is acceptable for publication. I have a writing style when I type with my fingers that is probably considered to be at a college level of writing if not higher.

I wrote this 840 word article in about 8 minutes while driving!

However when I write with my voice, that is when I’m speaking aloud and speaking in a way that can be transcribed into text, my writing level is probably closer to that of a freshman or sophomore in high school. I may be a little harsh on myself in that regards, but I have high standards for my own writing. One of the benefits I get out of using Dragon NaturallySpeaking in this way is that I rarely misspell words. I currently have a laptop computer, a Toshiba, that has a relatively cheap keyboard. I mention this because when I type with this keyboard, it makes lots of errors because several of the keys on the keyboard stick. This is a factory defect and these keys have stuck ever since I bought the damn thing. That drives me nuts because I am a good typist, but this particular keyboard is going to be the death of me I think. Never fear I do intend to purchase a new laptop very soon, I just haven’t figured out which computer I’m going to buy yet.

So that’s what I’m up to with the national novel writing month contest, and I’d encourage you to try it out as well. I’m not hiding any of my secrets tricks or tips, if you want to try Dragon NaturallySpeaking and write with both hands behind your back, literally, that should be a piece of cake for myself and for you and anyone else that wants to give it a go.

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