Mac 101: Dictation

         Starting off with, “People have been talking (occasionally with expletives) to their computers since way before they could listen,”  the latest Smart Dog Tech Tails #841 brings Speech-to-Text dictation to our attention with “You Don’t Say…”  

        The writer goes on to pronounce this thoughtful observation, “Dictating to your technological artifact is almost exactly like speaking to humanoid interlocutors, except for a few key differences.” And he explains, and recommends this article with nifty chart of dictation commands from Mac 101: Dictation using ML or an OS X app.  

Do You Use Dictation?

        One of Mountain Lion's features is Dictation.   Here's a 2 page article:        
 http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/07/13/inside_os_x_108_mountain_lion_gm_dictation_speech/page/1  that describes Dictation and shows screen shots. It's currently supported on the new iPad and iPhone 4S, also. 
         If you're using Dictation why not drop us a line so we can pass along your assessment of the experience? You'll see the email directions in the column, About PMUG, on the right side of the homepage.  

Would You Like to be a Dictator?

       Here's a program for everyone who'd like to be a Dictator!  John Carter tells about a nifty program that puts Mac to work by listening and writing what you say.  Typing may be on its way out?  Anyway. . . the program is Dragon Dictate, version 2.5.  John notes, "The new version works quite well on Lion."
        Watch 8 short video demonstrations, starting with the first.  One feature on their site is "Ask the Dictator" which gives tips, advice, and answers your questions.  They have dictation programs for legal, medical, and even French language.
        John wanted to install Dragon Dictate on both his iMac and his MacBook Pro.  "After installing on the iMac, it wouldn’t let me use the validation key a 2nd time to install on the MacBook Pro. So I simply copied the two plist files from the iMac to the MacBook Pro and it was automatically validated. In my mind, I should be able to install any app on 2 computers: a desktop and a laptop. And that’s what I did."