Writing an article with Mountain Lion’s dictation
Everything that you are about to read has been dictated to my Mac Mini. I have, however, edited where necessary. If the dictation software recognize [recognized] the word incorrectly, I have put the correct wording [word in] brackets right next to the misinterpreted, struck through word. I’ve also had to manually put in the paragraph breaks when [where] necessary, as well.
As much as I love writing articles, my hands do get tired from time to time. I’ve looked into dictation software before, but none of it is cheap. And if I’ve ever found a cheap dictation software and tried it, it wasn’t good, so I forgot it’s [I’ve forgotten its] name.
Apple is trying to combat the issue of expensive and generally unreliable speech recognition software with dictation on Mountain line [Lion]. For $20 to [you] get dictation technology that’s very similar to the technology that is on iOS. I’ve never had a huge problem with dictation on my iPad, so I thought I’d give the version of dictation on the online [Mountain Lion] a chance.
For the most part, it is a pretty accurate piece of software. There [are] obviously if you [a few] misinterpretations, but that’s to be expected; plus, this is just my experience. Depending on how fast or slow you speak, dictation could work better or worse for you. You’ll just have to try it on your own.
I think something that is more interesting than dictation in [and of] itself isn’t used [is its use] cases. As a journalist, I think having a relatively accurate piece of speech recognition software on hand is an invaluable tool. Just imagine going to an interview with your Mac and having your Mac pick up all the necessary words. It won’t pick up most punctuation on its own (i.e., without you saying the punctuation mark), but appropriate periods and commas can be added in before publication.
In all, the dictation software in Mountain Lion works very well. Wanted [$20] dollars would be a great price for just dictation – but you also get a brand-new operating system that works incredibly well.
Do you plan on using dictation in your daily routine Solarz assembly [or is it simply a] gimmick at this point?
